October 5th, 2020

October 5, 2020

THE VARSITY The University of Toronto’s Student Newspaper Since 1880

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U of T creates Anti-Black Racism Task Force to combat systemic racism on campus

Appointment of special advisor at UTM among other anti-racist initiatives Marta Anielska Associate News Editor

Comment Law faculty, do more for Palestinian students and staff

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Arts & Culture A look at the papers that are pushing the boundaries of campus satire

Science Ig Nobel win at U of T raises eyebrows

Sports In conversation with Alison Okumura, captain at the helm of the rowing team

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Vol. CXLI, No. 5

In response to the public’s demands for greater action against systemic racism, U of T has announced the creation of the Anti-Black Racism Task Force to tackle the issue on campus. It is meant to capture the experiences of Black students, faculty, and staff, and identify the different types of barriers they face.

The task force will be led by Professor Dexter Voisin, Dean of the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work; Professor Njoki Wane, Chair of Social Justice Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education; Desma CharlemagneMichel, Director of Human Resource Services at UTSC; and Roger Bulgin, Chief Administrative Officer at Woodsworth College.

U of T President Meric Gertler is expected to receive a report with the task force’s findings by March 31, 2021.

Task force mandate In June, Gertler released a statement in response to cases of police brutality and systemic racism in Canada and the United States. He condemned anti-Black racism, reasserted U of T’s commitment to supporting its Black community members, and acknowledged the hard work of campus groups like the Black Students’ Association in fighting anti-Black racism.

Moreover, he announced that various initiatives would be organized in the coming months by several U of T apparatuses already combating systemic racism, such as the Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Office (ARCDO). The AntiRacism Task Force is one of the most recent initiatives announced.

Besides aiming to understand the experience

of Black members in the U of T community and identifying barriers they face, the task force also plans to review U of T’s current strategies for addressing anti-Black racism. The Anti-Black Racism Task Force will conduct an examination of the different initiatives and resources across all three campuses, and determine if additional strategies will be necessary.

An anonymous feedback form will also be available on the task force’s website so that it has a connection to the U of T community. This is part of its consultation-based approach and goal of “respectfully responding to people’s lived experiences.” Community members will also be able to share their thoughts in feedback sessions that will most likely be held in a virtual format over the course of the 2020–2021 school year.

Ultimately, the task force will provide recommendations to the president, vice-president resources and equity, and provost “that will further Black [inclusion] and excellence.”

Special advisor position U of T has also appointed Professor Rhonda McEwen as a special advisor on anti-racism and equity at UTM. McEwen has been involved in multiple diversity and equity initiatives prior to this appointment, including Black Table Talks, a networking opportunity for Black community members, and Visions of Science, an event meant to introduce marginalized communities to STEM. McEwen’s role is to advise Vice-Principal and President of UTM Alexandra Gillespie as well as other members of the executive team.

“Her position is to speak and for us to listen,” Gillespie clarified in an interview with U of T

News. McEwen has already planned a listening tour where she can speak with the UTM unit head to gain insights.

This approach aims to be intersectional, not only targeting anti-Black racism, but also focusing on improving the experiences of all racialized community members and those in the LGBTQ+ community.

Community response In an email to The Varsity, Sandra Osazuwa, President of U of T’s Black Graduate Students’ Association (BGSA), expressed optimism about U of T’s efforts to challenge anti-Black racism on campus. “We are glad to see the new wave of interest [ARCDO] has received and we hope that they are getting the institutional support that they deem necessary,” Osazuwa wrote.

She added that “this aspiration extends to all other initiatives… that aim to make the campus a safer, more enjoyable and more dignifying place for Black students.”

Moreover, Osazuwa brought up the importance of representation and gratitude she and the BGSA at large felt toward “capable Black leaders.” She also acknowledged the pressure that many of these leaders may be facing and reiterated that she hopes they will receive the support that they deserve from the U of T community.

“We are interested in continuing to see the ways in which the university aims to improve the quality of learning, experiences, and holistic wellbeing of Black students, staff members, [and] the larger community in solidarity.”

The Varsity has reached out to The Black Students’ Association for comment.

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Faculty of Medicine receives historic $250 million donation for medical research

Gift more than doubles U of T revenue from donations from 2018–2019 school year Lauren Alexander Deputy News Editor

On September 24, U of T announced a $250 million donation from the Temerty Foundation, which will be spread across the Faculty of Medicine and affiliated hospitals. This massive sum includes a $10 million donation that was pre-announced this past April, which allowed the creation of the Dean’s COVID-19 Priority Fund.

This donation is the largest ever received by a Canadian institution, even larger than the $200 million donation that McGill University received in 2019.

The sum more than doubles the amount U of T received from donations in the entirety of the 2018– 2019 school year, during which time it received $102 million from donations.

The donation will be spread throughout the Faculty of Medicine, which is being renamed the Temerty Faculty of Medicine after the donors James and Louise Temerty. A U of T News article laid out where the donation funds would be allocated, including the new Centre for AI Research and Education in Medicine, redeveloping the faculty’s building in King’s College Circle, and additional research funding.

The donation is equivalent to 27 per cent of the

total amount that U of T spent on medical research from April 2018 to March 2019.

The most recent donation includes the earlier $10 million donation, which was given by the Temerty Foundation to create the Dean’s COVID-19 Priority Fund. The donation was used for clinical resources, isolation housing for frontline health care workers, and emergency assistance grants for students.

In a speech at an event accepting the $250 million donation, U of T President Meric Gertler said that the donation had been in the works long before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The event also featured videos from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford thanking the Temertys.

“Jim and Louise, along with their daughter Leah Temerty-Lord, noted the faculty’s huge impact in training physicians, specialists, and researchers, with more than 60,000 living alumni across the Toronto region, the country, and the world,” said Gertler. “[The Temerty family] also noted the faculty’s commitment to the wellness of its learners and faculty members, and they noted the faculty’s outstanding strengths in areas such as personalized medicine and regenerative medicine, artificial intelligence and machine learning, genomic medicine, and biomedical

and biotech innovation.”

U of T will use the gift to create the new Centre for AI Research and Education in Medicine, which will further U of T’s artificial intelligence research. It will also create a new fund for the Toronto Academic Health Science Network, which includes hospitals across the city, such as the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Mt. Sinai Hospital, and St. Michael’s Hospital.

Some of the funds will be allocated to the redevelopment of the Faculty of Medicine’s building located on King’s College Circle. The building will be named the James and Louise Temerty Building after the donors and will feature new laboratories and teaching spaces for the faculty.

The Temerty Faculty of Medicine will also feature an elder-in-residence position and a Circle of Elders in an effort to further Indigenous health education within the faculty.

U of T will also create a Dean’s Strategic Initiatives and Innovation Fund for researchers, equipment, and new research projects. “Our family is deeply honoured and very excited about the possibilities that lie ahead. It’s taken a long time to get to this day,” said James Temerty.

Statistics Canada finds average salary for women teaching staff at U of T roughly $20,000 less than men

Faculty association pushes for more thorough analysis of gender bias in compensation structures

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Statistics Canada recently updated its statistics on teaching staff salaries for the 2019–2020 school year, revealing a continued discrepancy between the average salaries of women and men full-time teaching faculty at U of T of about $20,000.

Overall, women’s median and average salaries were lower than men’s. The average salary for women in 2019–2020 was $164,250, a figure that is $20,800 lower than the men’s average of $185,050. U of T has 1,113 women teaching staff, 1,656 men teaching staff, and nine staff of unknown gender or other.

The 90th percentile of salary for women was $219,800 and the 90th percentile for men was $254,400, a difference of $34,600. At the 10th percentile, men’s average was approximately $10,000 more than the women’s average.

U of T’s report and response In April 2019, the university released the Report of the Provostial Advisory Group on Faculty Gender Pay Equity following two years of analysis. The study examined pay equity for full-time tenure stream faculty and teaching stream faculty. It did not include an analysis of pay inequity for parttime faculty, faculty on contractually limited term appointments, and librarians.

The university found that the gender pay gap was around 1.3 per cent for men and women in comparable positions in the tenure stream in June 2019, while controlling for rank, years of experience, and field of study. Without controlling for these factors, the raw average difference was 12 per cent. The administration found no significant difference in the pay of men and women in the teaching stream.

The report noted that this is because, on average, women in the tenure stream have fewer years of experience and work in lower paying fields of study. They also tend to be in more junior faculty

positions than men.

However, in an email to The Varsity, Terezia Zoric, President of the University of Toronto Faculty Association (UFTA), argued that the university’s methodology was flawed and had the effect of “explaining away” factors of the pay gap rather than acknowledging the gender bias that is more deeply rooted within those factors.

“Many of these factors… have themselves been proven to be tainted by gender bias,” she wrote. “If men are more likely to be promoted, then any gender bias in the promotion process will be explained away when rank is controlled for.”

In 2019, there were 735 men tenure stream professors, with only 287 women and one person of another gender in the same position. The gender imbalance is much less for men and women in lower ranked faculty positions, such as associate and assistant professors.

In an email to The Varsity, Heather Boon, ViceProvost Faculty & Academic Life, wrote that the university is “committed to excellence” and that part of that includes “ensuring [its] faculty members’ salaries are fair and equitable.”

Moreover, Boon pointed out that the university

has taken other steps to ensure gender equity, including hiring more women in the tenure stream, balancing starting salaries, and providing unconscious bias training.

For its September 21 issue, The Varsity published an article in print and online titled “UTGSU expands Black Graduate Student Excellence Bursary Award at September council meeting.” The article linked Adam Hill’s allegation of controversy toward Adri-

an Aziz’s 2020 CRO appointment with the 2019 OISE GSA elections that came under investigation when Aziz was also CRO, without further clarifying that the investigation ultimately concluded that Aziz was unconstitutionally removed as CRO of the

2019 elections and that there was no evidence of his wrongdoing in that position. The online version of the article has been updated to fully clarify that context, alongside a comment from UTGSU Executive Director Andre Fast. The Varsity regrets the error.

UFTA’s report In an open letter from April 2019, the UFTA presented its own study, which combined quantitative and qualitative factors and found that the pay gap ranges from 2.7 to 8.6 per cent, more than double the university’s 1.3 per cent figure. The letter also calls for more thorough analysis on the pay gap for the teaching stream, part-time faculty, contractually limited term appointments, and librarians.

The UFTA has found gender bias in the determinants of salary, such as the setting of starting salaries and the promotion process. According to Zoric, U of T’s hiring process uses more discretion than most, which is a reason why the university should cooperate with the UFTA to create a more equitable compensation structure.

The UFTA has also been pushing for U of T to release more data so it can analyze the impact of the pay gap on Indigenous, Black, and other racialized women.

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OCTOBER 5, 2020

Virtual student strike All Out September 30 demands accessible education, defunding police

Event takes place on Orange Shirt Day, includes teachins, panels, breakout sessions

U of T data reveals higher percentage of women graduate students in master’s than doctoral programs Data released on 2019–2020 graduate student demographics, funding support Isabel Armiento Graduate Bureau Chief

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Nawa Tahir Lead Copy Editor

On September 30, students and student groups participated in All Out September 30 (AOS), a virtual protest in support of Black, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC) and against racism. The protest took place over Zoom and was live streamed on Facebook.

A number of student unions at U of T participated in the strike, including the University of Toronto Graduate Students’ Union (UTGSU), the University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union, and the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union (SCSU).

The virtual event took place on Orange Shirt Day, a day when people wear orange shirts to commemorate Indigenous peoples who have been impacted by the residential school system in Ontario.

The organizers of AOS consist of a group of Indigenous, Black, and racialized student leaders and allies from campuses across the GTA who have led and organized campaigns against racism over the last several years.

Demands Organizers set out a list of demands prior to the protest, including free accessible education for all, province-wide recognition of Orange Shirt Day, the defunding of police and their removal from campuses, specialized programs for BIPOC students, higher wages and job procurement programs for precarious workers, the removal of the Egerton Ryerson Statue, the collection of race-based demographic data, and additional services and supports for BIPOC students.

The strike’s demands are informed by the claim that postsecondary institutions were built for people who are wealthy and white rather than those who are Indigenous, racialized, international, disabled, low-income, or LGBTQ+.

The AOS also demanded the defunding and demilitarization of police. On its Instagram page, the AOS claimed that police, special constables, and security forces “terrorize and surveil… Indigenous, Black, and Racialised students and community members.”

In a post on its Facebook page, the AOS also asserted that “full-time faculty at… universities and colleges are overwhelmingly white” and demanded that more BIPOC faculty and staff be hired at all levels of Ontario’s education system. The AOS believe that BIPOC students deserve to be mentored by BIPOC faculty, and existing BIPOC faculty deserve to be better represented among their peers.

The strike also called for decent work and wages, including “a $15 minimum wage, paid sick days, and equal pay for full-time, parttime, contract, and temporary work.” Additionally, the AOS stressed the importance of provincial protections for workers and that campuses should “develop decent work procurement policies to ensure that all jobs on campus are good jobs.”

Programming of the strike In an email to The Varsity, AOS organizers wrote that they chose to do the strike online because of the increasing spread of COVID-19 and because they “[know] that Indigenous and Black communities are disproportionately at risk.”

The event consisted mostly of speaker discussions, though participants were also asked to commit to signing and sharing a petition to remove a statue of Egerton Ryerson from the Ryerson University campus.

Recently, the university’s namesake has been heavily criticized for his involvement in the establishment of Canada’s residential school system, which facilitated the abuse of Indigenous children and removed them from their cultures. The proposed action would be similar to the 2019 renaming of the Ryerson Stream of the Vic One program to the Education Stream.

The organizers asked participants to use social media platforms like Twitter to address university representatives and demand that police be removed from university campuses.

They also encouraged participants to reach out to provincial representatives and ask for free and accessible education for all.

Other events included an Orange Shirt Day teach-in and panels with grassroots community organizers and activists. The strike’s organizers also moved participants into breakout rooms where they could discuss campus issues and potential reforms.

In an email to The Varsity, UTGSU executives wrote that “beyond September 30th, [they] will continue to fight for these demands and look forward to organizing with students across campuses.”

In an interview with The Varsity, Sarah Abdillahi, President of SCSU, summarized that the strike was “in support for Black, Indigenous, and racialized students, faculty and staff who experience anti-Black racism, or anti-Indigenous racism on our campuses. And we’re basically saying, enough is enough.”

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U of T has released its annual Facts & Figures report, which is published by the Office of Planning & Budget. This report includes a wide range of information on the university, including student enrolment statistics for undergraduate and graduate students from all three U of T campuses.

This year’s report reveals information about the gender balance within graduate faculties and fields of study in the 2019–2020 academic year, as well as data on sources and distribution of graduate student financial support for the 2018–2019 year.

The report reveals that in the 2018–2019 year, the percentage of women students enrolled in graduate programs was consistently higher for master’s programs than doctoral programs, and that the top-funded graduate field of study corresponded with the lowest women enrolment.

Graduate student enrolment by gender Graduate student enrolment is higher in women than men, as 57.4 per cent of full-time graduate students identified as women as of November 1, 2019. This figure drops to only 47.9 per cent, however, when considering how many women are full-time international graduate students.

The gender balance shifts according to faculty. At UTSG, the three graduate faculties with the highest percentage of women students are the Faculty of Nursing with 87 per cent, the Faculty of Social Work with 82 per cent, and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education with 80 per cent. The faculties of public health and information also have disproportionate gender enrolment statistics, each with 72 per cent women enrolment.

The three graduate faculties with the lowest percentage of women students enrolled are the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering with 29 per cent, the Toronto School of Theology with 32 per cent, and the Faculty of Management with 38 per cent.

At UTM and UTSC, every academic unit reported that over 50 per cent of graduate students enrolled were women.

Master’s and doctoral degrees earned by gender Notably, the data reveals a gap between degrees earned by women in master’s programs and doctoral programs. Every field of study except engineering and physical sciences reported fewer degrees earned by women in doctoral programs

compared to women in their respective master’s programs during the 2018 calendar year.

In 2018, the largest differences in the proportion of degrees earned by women between the master’s and doctoral levels were in the fields of humanities as well as mathematics and physical sciences. In humanities, the percentage of degrees earned by women dropped 19 percentage points between the master’s and doctoral levels, as women earned 67 per cent of all master’s degrees versus only 48 per cent of doctoral degrees. In mathematics and physical sciences departments, this figure dropped by 12 percentage points, from women earning 40 per cent of master’s degrees to only 28 per cent of doctoral degrees.

This trend extends to other fields of study as well. While 80 per cent of master’s degrees in education and physical education were earned by women, this number dropped to only 74 per cent of doctoral degrees. Seventy-four per cent of master’s degrees in health professions were earned by women, but only 63 per cent of doctoral degrees. Sixty-two per cent of fine and applied arts master’s degrees were earned by women compared to only 56 per cent of doctoral degrees.

Graduate student support The report also offers data on financial support for graduate students from the 2018–2019 academic year, during which time graduate students at U of T received a total of $309.2 million. This funding came from a variety of sources, with 27 per cent from research stipends, 22.4 per cent from employment income, 17.7 per cent from U of T fellowships, 11.3 per cent from external awards, 9.5 per cent from bursaries, 7.1 per cent from merit awards, and 4.9 per cent from Ontario Graduate Scholarships and Ontario Graduate Scholarships in Science and Technology.

This funding is distributed differently across the fields of study. The highest amount goes to physical sciences with 30.2 per cent, followed by life sciences with 25.2 per cent, social sciences with 22.3 per cent, and humanities with 22.2 per cent.

Physical sciences is one of two graduate fields of study that are dominated by men, according to the report. Only 29 per cent of graduate math and physical sciences students and 34 per cent of graduate engineering and applied sciences students are women. Physical sciences is also the field of study that receives the highest funding from the School of Graduate Studies.

U of T’s annual Facts & Figures report includes data on a variety of topics.

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Divest Canada Coalition calls for nationwide blanket divestment from fossil fuels at universities

“Situation is far too urgent” for U of T to not take stronger climate approach, say activists Khatchig Anteblian Lead Copy Editor

On September 8, the Divest Canada Coalition (DCC) released an open letter calling on university and college administrations across Canada to divest from the fossil fuel industry by 2025. Among those that signed the letter are Divestment and Beyond, Leap U of T, and U of T’s School of the Environment.

The letter argues that the Investing to Address Climate Change Charter, which was signed by numerous Canadian universities, including U of T, in June, is insufficient. The charter proposes that universities regularly measure their carbon intensity, and share the progress they have made toward their goals.

However, the DCC letter instead proposed stronger approaches to fighting the climate crisis, and claims that the charter “is not only inadequate, but pretends to address the climate crisis while deflecting responsibility from taking real action.”

U of T’s climate policy, divestment across Canada Back in March 2016, U of T President Meric Gertler released a response rejecting the Presidential Advisory Committee (PAC) on Divestment from Fossil Fuels’ recommendations of targeted divestment that were put forth in the report of his advisory committee, suggesting that U of T instead take a “firm-byfirm” approach. Following this, however, environmental groups at U of T were not content with this decision and are still calling for U of T to divest, with the DCC letter in particular demanding for full divestment from fossil fuel companies.

When The Varsity reached out to the university for comment regarding their climate crisis policies, a spokesperson pointed to the Low-Carbon Action Plan, which was released three years after the rejection of the PAC recommendations. The plan commits the university to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions levels from 1990 by 37 per cent by 2030.

Part of this plan includes geothermal fields, such as the one under construction at King’s College Circle.

According to a university spokesperson, U of T is on track to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

The University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation — which manages U of T’s investments — has also pledged to “reduce the carbon footprint of endowment and pension investment portfolios by at

least 40 per cent compared to 2017 levels by the end 2030,” the spokesperson wrote.

While U of T has rejected the recommendations of its experts on divestment, other universities have taken a stronger stand. Concordia University became the first university in Canada to start the process of divesting from fossil fuels in 2014, and has now committed to fully divesting by the year 2025. Laval University was the first in Canada to commit to full divestment in 2017.

The University of Guelph has passed a motion to divest, and the Université du Québec à Montréal has stopped investing in fossil fuels. Finally, the University of British Columbia (UBC) has voted to transfer $380 million from part of its endowment to a sustainable fund — although students have demanded more.

U of T faculty, students want more action Steve Easterbrook, Director of the School of Environment at U of T and a professor at the Department of Computer Science who is researching the applications of computer science and software engineering to the challenge of the climate crisis, wrote to The Varsity about U of T’s lack of action toward the issue.

“To put it bluntly, it is hypocritical for a University to claim to be at the forefront of knowledge production while simultaneously investing in companies that knowingly undermine that mission by spreading disinformation,” Easterbrook wrote.

“It’s now increasingly clear that fossil fuel companies are extremely risky investments, and that by refusing to divest, the University of Toronto is losing money,” wrote Easterbrook. “It’s notable that when the University of California divested, they cited financial risk, rather than climate change as their primary motivation.”

Evelyn Austin, a member and coordinator at environmental group Leap U of T, co-wrote the DCC letter, along with members from UBC, Carleton University, and Western University.

“Leap has been leading the divestment movement on campus since 2017, when [Leap U of T CoFounder] Julia Da Silva reinitiated calls for divestment on campus after the first campaign had fizzled out after President Gertler’s rejection [of the recommendations],” Austin wrote to The Varsity. “The situation is far too urgent for the gradual phasing-out of

The Divest Canada Coalition has released an open letter demanding universities completely divest from fossil fuels.

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this industry,” Austin continued.

A group within the School of Environment called Divestment and Beyond, whose members include staff, faculty, students, and union leaders, has been holding weekly meetings for the past year to develop a strategy for U of T to take a stronger role to fight the climate crisis.

Divestment and Beyond has also drafted a petition, which has been circulating among faculty and staff at U of T and universities across Canada, that criticized the charter released earlier this year and calls for stronger measures against the climate crisis.

Paul Downes, a professor of English and a member of Divestment and Beyond who co-wrote the letter in the petition, wrote to The Varsity, “The University has engaged in a [public relations] campaign to convince people that it is doing its part to address the climate crisis and the various forms of social and economic injustice perpetuated by that crisis.”

Downes thinks the way that the charter measures the impact of investments is misleading. Signatories of the charter are agreeing to measure their carbon intensity and seek to reduce it, but carbon intensity measures emissions per dollar invested, instead of absolute reductions in emissions.

He later claimed that this approach “is both socially and intellectually irresponsible.” Downes thinks

that the charter does not share the goals of faculty and staff at U of T, who he believes mostly want universities to decarbonize their investments and take stronger action.

Beyond divestment Easterbrook thinks that divestment is only part of the solution. While divestment can certainly be effective, Easterbrook wrote that it’s impossible to measure the reduction in carbon footprint from any single divestment decision. Measurable benefits only accrue when strong collective action is taken, he noted.

“We need a plan to identify and eliminate all sources of greenhouse gas emissions from the University of Toronto campuses and the goods and services they consume,” he wrote. “We need to incorporate climate justice into our educational programs, to ensure all our students are adequately prepared for the climate changed world into which they will graduate.”

Austin echoed that sentiment, noting that the movement relies on public pressure toward universities. She wrote that students should “write to administration, [and] get involved with Leap U of T or other progressive groups on campus.” She also added that students can help by being informed and talking about the issue with friends, colleagues, and professors.

UTSC launches creative writing major Program first of its kind at all three campuses Alexa DiFrancesco UTSC Bureau Chief

UTSC faculty and students gathered virtually last Wednesday to welcome the campus’ newest program: a major in creative writing. It is the first undergraduate major in creative writing, which encompasses fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction, to be offered at any U of T campus. The major will be offered starting this year.

The event, held via Zoom, featured creative readings from S. J. Sindu, Kateri AkiwenzieDamm, and Randy Lundy, who are published writers and the program’s newest faculty members.

The event was hosted by the supervisor of the creative writing program, author Daniel Scott Tysdal.

In an email to The Varsity, Tysdal stressed the importance of teaching creative writing at the university level, especially “in the context of our current political, health, and environmental crisis.”

Tysdal added, “In [creative writing] classes, we learn how to tell our stories and share our experiences in gripping, artful, and rewarding ways, empowering us and our communities.” He explained that, aside from learning to write effectively, students are taught to “[listen] with care… attending to others and the world with sensitive and critical eyes.”

“This is something I have witnessed again and again with UTSC [creative writing] students and

graduates,” Tysdal wrote. “When we are empowered with these skills, we can now empower others; we can teach them how to share their stories and experiences.”

Tysdal has been a full-time faculty member at UTSC since 2009. Though he also teaches English literature courses, Tysdal has been vital in advocating for creative writing at the university. He has been an editor, contributor, and publisher of UTSC’s creative writing club, which is referred to as COW, and is the faculty advisor of The Scarborough Fair, a campus student journal.

Tysdal also designed a minor in creative writing program that was implemented at UTSC in 2013. The creative writing minor is also available at UTM. Prior to the creative writing major, students were required to have a portfolio of creative work to be considered for enrolment in any creative writing course. This year, UTSC has implemented a new class, ENGA03 — Introduction to Creative Writing, which must be completed by students before applying to the major. Other application requirements include submitting a 15–20 page portfolio of creative work, a cover letter, and obtaining four degree credits from U of T. Once admitted to the program, students are required to complete 7.5 creative writing credits.

Two of these credits must be C- or D-level courses.

Due to extra space in courses, creative writ-

UTSC will have the university’s first creative writing major.

MICHAEL PHOON/THEVARSITY

ing professors are allowing second-, third-, and fourth-year students to apply to upper-year classes via portfolios, a policy of which many students have taken advantage. In written responses to The Varsity, second-year students Joseph Donato and Isla McLaughlin shared their experiences taking creative writing classes.

“It’s unlike anything I have taken prior,” McLaughlin wrote. “The professors ensure workshopping opportunities are not lost because of

the circumstances. Furthermore, the professional atmosphere in which drafts are submitted and revised, with clear deadlines and plans for resubmission, mirrors that of what I imagine the world of writing to be.”

Donato wrote, “I’m thankful I made the decision to apply to the new creative writing major, and I encourage anyone who has an interest in taking their writing to the professional level to join me and an entire community of others like them.”

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OCTOBER 5, 2020

5

University Affairs Board discusses demographic survey, mental health app at first meeting of year

University “reviewing” Campus Police training, operations Hannah Carty News Editor

The University Affairs Board (UAB) held its first meeting of the 2020–2021 school year, discussing a demographic survey, a new mental health app, and Campus Police.

Vice-Provost Students Sandy Welsh also reported at the meeting that she will be taking a six month leave from the role to focus on research, and current Vice-Dean of First Year Engineering Micah Stickel will be the acting vice-provost students for the duration.

Demographic survey The Office of the Vice-Provost Students (OVPS) will be launching a demographic survey sometime this fall for all currently enrolled students to gain a better understanding of the student population at U of T. Data collected by the survey will be used to inform the university’s outreach efforts, especially those directed at marginalized groups.

In addition, Welsh said that the survey “will help [U of T] in terms of understanding underrepresented students in terms of enrolment, and to develop and maintain programs that respond to the needs of… current students.”

The survey will be voluntary, though the

OVPS hopes to encourage students to participate by making it easily accessible through ACORN. It will also allow students to give feedback on the questions asked. “This is long overdue,” said Welsh.

Navi Welsh also spoke about a new service the university is introducing, a mental health app called Navi. Navi is a virtual chat assistant and wayfinding tool that can connect users to a variety of different mental health or other services at U of T. The service allows users to remain completely anonymous and will be available to all U of T community members.

The app was tested by students and staff, and Welsh noted that the service will hopefully grow, with the possibility of including college- or faculty-specific information.

“We’re doing this in line with the recommendations from the mental health task force that noted that one of the first areas that we needed to be focused on was simply helping students find the resources that are available, and Navi is focused on doing just that,” said Welsh.

.

RILLA WANG/THEVARSITY

Campus Police Vice-Provost Human Resources and Equity Kelly Hannah-Moffat also answered a question from a board member about recent calls to defund or abolish Campus Police.

She responded, “We are currently reviewing our campus delivery, training, and operations, as well as recruitment practices and policies

as they relate to Campus Police on all three campuses.” She added that all campus police officers and building patrol staff receive antibias and equity training.

In addition, she noted that the university tries to hire individuals who graduated from U of T and who “reflect the diversity of [U of T’s] community.”

UTMSU reviews loss of revenue from COVID-19 at September Board of Directors Meeting Budgeting for union services, Student Centre, Blind Duck Pub discussed Hafsa Ahmed UTM Bureau Chief

The University of Toronto Mississauga Students’ Union (UTMSU) held its sixth Board of Directors Meeting over Zoom on October 2.

Members discussed events ranging from the start of the school year, to plans for the upcoming academic terms, and budgets, which were negatively impacted in many instances by COVID-19. The meeting began with reports from members of the executive team on what they have done so far in their terms, as well as their upcoming plans.

Executive reports The executives shared their reflections on the UTMSU orientation. Fahad Dayala, Vice-President Internal, reflected on the UTMSU’s first fully virtual orientation, Cosmos ‘20. “We had that personal connection, and we had that time with our first-year students to interact and have conversations on a one to one basis.”

The UTMSU originally planned to offer an inperson orientation option, however, it was informed by the university shortly beforehand that it could no longer take place due to COVID-19.

Anushka Sokhi, Vice-President University Affairs, noted that it was “great to see” that students were interested in coming back as volunteers after attending orientation. In their reports, members also spoke about upcoming plans that are still in the works, such as conversations surrounding campus parking fees and food service hours, as well as some Halloween-themed events in the near future.

Blind Duck operating budget The bulk of the meeting consisted of discussions surrounding budgets, beginning with the Blind Duck Operating Budget for the 2020–2021 fiscal year. The Blind Duck Pub is the restaurant the UTMSU has inside the Student Centre.

Dayala highlighted how there has been a significant drop in sales revenues, noting that this was “solely because of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

In anticipation that COVID-19 will continue to impact operations at the pub, the UTMSU has reduced its expected sales from an estimated $326,000 to $274,000.

As Dayala reported, while the Blind Duck Levy remains similar, there was a significant drop in the advertising revenue due to reduced traffic, and decreased interest in advertising from external com-

IRIS DENG/THEVARSITY

The UTMSU held its September Board meeting, discussing budgets.

HAYDEN MAK/THEVARSITY

panies. “Those companies are facing financial issues currently, as well,” added Dayala. Overall, the total sales revenue came to $305,000, which he said is a drop of roughly “35 per cent from what we anticipated in the preliminary budget.”

UTMSU operating budget Dayala moved on to discuss the UTMSU operating budget for the 2020–2021 year. The membership fee and Health and Dental plan remain similar to previous years. Dayala also noted that salaries of U-Pass distributors have been increased, “due to the extended period of U-Pass distributions.”

A significant loss of revenue came from unused lockers, which are not being issued due to sanitation concerns surrounding COVID-19. Student bookings and advertisements have also led to significant drops, as Dayala said that the UTMSU will “not [be] having any in-person events, at least for this semester.” In total, the revenue for this budget was $219,000, which is lower than the previous budget that was approved. Dayala also attributed this decrease to COVID-19.

Conversely, there has been an increase in expenses relating to major events under this budget, such as orientation. Dayala highlighted the fact that this year’s orientation was a free event, which amounted to a loss in revenue. A lack in sponsorships also contributed to this loss. Dayala noted that “because

of the pandemic, a lot of organizations weren’t interested in partnering because they themselves had faced a lot of financial difficulties.”

Fixed costs, such as bank fees and insurance costs, remain similar, with total administrative costs coming to $442,000. The UTMSU is also considering costs surrounding its website, which includes repairs and maintenance costs, and an upcoming campus portal, which it anticipates will cost roughly $15,000 altogether. In regard to income, the UTMSU is expecting an estimated $120,000 for its budget this year.

Student Centre operating budget The board also discussed the operating budget for the Student Centre, which has a total revenue of $420,000. The UTMSU is expecting a total net income of $100,600; however, it is not expecting any revenue from Canada’s Wonderland ticket sales as it usually would due to closures surrounding the pandemic. It is also anticipating “a total net loss of $86,000 from the infobooth,” due largely to the loss of revenue from the ticket sales.

Regarding the Duck Stop, a UTMSU-owned convenience store, which is operating under capacity and is no longer open on weekends, the UTMSU is anticipating a net loss of $8,000, which Dayala highlighted is still less than what was anticipated in the preliminary budget.

Business & Labour

October 5, 2020 var.st/business biz@thevarsity.ca

What you should be asking about the COVID Alert app A closer look into the federal exposure notification application

Sarah Kronenfeld Varsity Contributor

Could an app help track the spread of COVID-19 in Canada? Many experts agree that such an app might be useful, but contact-tracing and exposure notification apps are still in their early stages.

Here is how Canada’s COVID Alert app plans to tackle the problem.

How does it work?

The COVID Alert app itself guides users through the basics of the app’s functionality. While enabled, the app sends out Bluetooth signals to all other devices close enough to receive them.

Those signals contain codes, refreshed approximately every 15 minutes, based on a random key that the device generates every day. The app saves each signal that it receives, in addition to the daily keys that it generates, for a maximum of two weeks.

When a person tests positive for COVID-19 in Ontario, they can get an official “diagnosis key” with their COVID-19 test results, which they can then input into the app. Upon entering the diagnosis key, their device sends all of the daily keys it has generated over the past two weeks to a central server.

Participating devices periodically fetch the list of keys that have been uploaded to the server and check them against stored signals they have received from other devices in the past two weeks to find possible matches.

The signals also contain some basic data about the hardware of the device from which they’ve been sent. These can be decrypted when a match is found, and used to determine how far away a pair of devices were when they exchanged signals.

If a stored signal meets Health Canada’s guidelines for close contact — 15 minutes within two metres of each other — then the app alerts its user that they have been in contact with someone infected with the virus and they need to get tested.

It is important to note that every step taken within the app — downloading it, enabling it, and entering a one-time key — requires active consent from the user.

Who built the app?

COVID Alert’s lineage can be traced directly back to the COVID Exposure Notification Framework put out by Apple and Google earlier this year. The framework provides app developers the tools they

need to send out the required Bluetooth signals without having to run the app constantly in the foreground of the device.

The Apple-Google framework dictates a lot of the app’s basic structure, and many of the privacy measures in the app are actually enforced at the level of this framework.

“Apple and Google deliberately designed the framework that is included in their devices’ operating systems to resist state-driven mass surveillance,” Christopher Parsons, a senior research associate at The Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, said in an interview with The Varsity.

“The companies recognized that the framework could be used by countries such as Canada, as well as more repressive or authoritarian governments.”

“To this end, the Canadian and other governments are restricted in the information their apps can obtain and disclose,” Parsons continued. “Specifically, [they] cannot and do not collect information pertaining to location or the identity of those who have been proximate to the app’s user.”

The app currently being published by the Canadian government was originally developed by a group of Shopify volunteers, who designed it to integrate with Ontario’s public health system. It is being further developed, maintained, and adapted to the health care systems of other provinces and territories by the Canadian Digital Service (CDS).

Misuse of the app A lot of the most frequently asked questions about the app have to do with its treatment of privacy —

but privacy is actually one of the app’s strongest points. In its review by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC), the technical measures taken by the app to protect users’ privacy held up well under scrutiny.

The CDS has also made a concerted effort to make the app as transparent as possible about its use, or lack thereof, of users’ information. For the app to work, it requires public buy-in, and many users are understandably wary about installing an app on their phone that seems to track their contacts.

“It’s one thing to not collect something,” Emily Kuret, a member of the CDS design team, said in an interview with The Varsity. “For us it wasn’t just about making sure that it was private; it was about telling that story and making sure that people really understood it.”

The app also tries to make it very clear to users that its use should be voluntary. However, there are currently no legal ramifications in place for organizations denying service based on app results, or requiring employees to run and download the app as a condition of their employment.

Other countries, such as Australia and France, have passed legislation banning practices that might coerce users into using a contact-tracing app against their will. The Canadian government has declined to pass any such legislation, and instead claims that it will “provide messaging to the effect that individuals should not be required to use the app, or to disclose information about their use of the app,” according to the OPC’s report.

Not only would such a practice be an infringement on users’ privacy, it would likely be ineffective

COVID Alert is available on both iOS and Android.

KEVIN XIAO/THE VARSITY

as a measure of their actual COVID-19 status. A possible exposure as detected by the app does not automatically mean that a user has COVID-19.

Similarly, an all-clear from the app just means that the user has not come in contact with anyone who has elected to upload their diagnosis key into the app.

Parsons worries that using individuals’ COVID Alert status as a barrier to entry in certain places may lead to practices akin to carding. If security services and law enforcement start checking individual’s COVID Alert status as a barrier to entry in public places, he’s worried they may be more likely to single out and detain racialized individuals or lower-income individuals.

Who the app benefits It’s important to note that, by itself, COVID Alert can only do so much to prevent individuals from getting COVID. “The COVID Alert app… can be thought of as just one tool from a broader toolbox; just as we wouldn’t attempt to build a house with just a hammer, we can’t expect the COVID Alert app on its own to mitigate the spread of COVID-19,” said Parsons.

Among other things, the app can only work properly when individuals, upon receiving a notification of possible exposure, have the capacity to take time off to get tested and self-quarantine — something that may not be an option for all users.

If COVID Alert is to work, it must be paired with appropriate programs that will allow its users the economic freedom to act on its advice.

Users with older phones may not be able to access the app at all. The framework put out by Apple and Google requires phones to have low-energy Bluetooth capability, as well as some cryptography software tools that are only built into the latest versions of iOS and Android, so phones that are more than five years old won’t be able to run the app.

Despite the app’s accessibility concerns, the CDS is adamant that it could still be useful. The government has ruled that the app will only stay in use as long as it proves to be effective.

Starting in the fourth quarter of the year, the Canadian government and the OPC will audit the app to determine whether it’s actually making a significant difference to the government’s health response.

The OPC has not yet published the benchmarks by which it will measure the app’s performance, but Health Canada says that it’s tracking — among other things — the size of the app’s user base.

Comment

October 5, 2020 var.st/comment comment@thevarsity.ca

Law faculty’s response to hiring scandal allegations must do better by Palestinian cause

Mélina Lévesque Varsity Contributor

Commitment to academic freedom, human rights is questionable

U of T’s Faculty of Law has recently come under fire for allegations that it has rescinded an offer of employment to an international scholar after a sitting judge and major donor to the faculty expressed concerns over her work on Israeli settlement on Palestinian territories.

The Faculty Advisory Committee of the International Human Rights Program (IHRP) began the hiring process for the position of IHRP director back in mid-August, a position that has been vacant for a year. The hiring committee unanimously chose Valentina Azarova as the top candidate for the job, leading her to accept the offer later in August.

Allegedly, David E. Spiro is the source of external influence who opposed Azarova’s offer, claiming that her work for human rights activism in Israel was inappropriate. An alum of the Faculty of Law, he is also a former member of the board of directors of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. His extended family has donated tens of millions to the University of Toronto, and he himself advised the law school on its $30-million fundraising campaign.

Now a sitting judge in the Tax Court of Canada, the university names Spiro as a Faculty of Law Building Campaign Donor, and he is on the donor list for the faculty’s Campaign for Excellence without Barriers under the $25,000–99,000 donor category.

Allegedly, two days after a call with Judge Spiro, negotiations with Azarova were terminated.

Azarova is a renowned international scholar whose work focuses closely on human rights abuses in Israel and enforcing human rights

on a global scale. Her unquestionable experience and record speak for itself, and as other faculty members have attested, she is the most suitable candidate for the position of IHRP director.

If these allegations are true, the story raises serious questions about the faculty’s commitment to academic freedom and human rights in its research and teaching — and paints a disturbing picture of its submission to the pressures of money and donor influence.

If true, the message that these actions would give is disappointing but clear: where academic freedom is involved, it’s better to stay quiet than to express what one stands for, even in a setting where open-mindedness and freedom of speech is ostensibly valued.

Furthermore, the faculty’s response to the allegations in the face of the anger, concern, and protest that have resulted from the media firestorm is itself concerning. The faculty advisory board of the IHRP has resigned in protest to the alleged rescindment, and the Students’ Law Society has published an open letter to Faculty of Law Dean Edward Iacobucci raising concerns regarding “procedural fairness, confidentiality, and deference to appointed and entrusted Committees.” Yet Iacobucci’s response amounts to a confounding denial of ever offering Azarova the position in the first place. That is as far the faculty goes.

The faculty fails to sensitively consider and respond to the broader academic context in which Palestinian voices and scholars’ rights to advocacy are undermined and delegitimized.

Having to pay a penalty for uncovering human rights violations in any country is unacceptable. Israel is no exception.

For current and prospective Palestinian students, the allegations against the faculty — and its defensive and lacklustre response to the allegations — signify that when it comes to defending the right to express their opinions and advocate for their people, the faculty will be nowhere in sight.

If these allegations are true, the faculty’s actions and lack of accountability thereafter can only be seen as problematic, harmful, and representative of anti-Palestinian racism and discrimination at the faculty.

These allegations go far beyond tarnishing the reputation of the university’s human rights program — they also inherently threaten the power of practicing advocacy in an academic

MICHAEL PHOON/THEVARSITY

Change depends on the masses, not individuals

Yana Sadeghi

REBECA MOYA/THEVARSITY

To challenge the integrity of our institutions we need to work as a collective. This means that online activism needs to coordinate the actions of individuals to have the same effects as mass gatherings.

As a result of COVID-19, movement organizers have become attuned to the challenges posed by online activism and have opted for a more subversive approach to accommodate this. To provide more context, Western activists have traditionally fought for change by cutting off the proverbial supply chain and leading by example.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott is a prime example of people choosing to forgo public transportation in solidarity. Through their boycott, protestors demonstrated what a more

Mélina Lévesque is a f ifth-year political science and sociocultural anthropology student at Victoria College.

The Faculty of Law is facing allegations of interference in a hiring controversy.

Digital activism has to be more inclusive and meet people where they’re at

As many of us have been strapped to our devices during lockdown, we have become more anxious about news, clinging to every byte the media broadcasts. This constant need to be connected with the rest of society has opened the flood-gates and exposed us to abhorrent injustices that have historically gone overlooked, such as racism, misogyny, and imperialism.

As such, we have become disillusioned by our political systems, and in turn, have become motivated to change our institutions — the only caveat is that we cannot rally together in person. Instead, we have to adapt to a new form of activism in the age of COVID-19.

Simply by nature, online activism is a lot more intangible than in-person protests as it relies on people to act in response to campaigns through petitions or donations. While these are important measures to boost civic engagement, they are relatively small steps toward making change as they depend on the actions of individuals, not the masses.

institution. While an investigation may be underway, there is strong potential for these actions to impact the image of both current and future students who choose to pursue legal education at U of T. Until Iacobucci and the faculty extend a response to these serious accusations beyond denying that there was ever an offer, it’s safe to say that the faculty’s commitment to equal treatment — something the law, the very thing it teaches, is meant to uphold — will remain in question.

inclusive society would look like, despite not having the support of the government.

Yet, activists in lockdown have done the very opposite by using guerilla tactics to hijack political campaigns. Take, for example, Trump’s re-election campaign. In an effort to boost support, his campaign provided free rally tickets and campaign signs to supporters.

Despite being vehemently against his platform, many online activists posted on TikTok about how they registered themselves for tickets to prevent his real followers from attending the event. In essence, people were “filling up the bus” online so that Trump supporters could not get to their destination.

Similarly, the Black Lives Matter movement has occupied digital spaces to instill the mes-

sage that racism is inescapable for racialized people. On June 2, over 28 million Instagram users participated in #BlackoutTuesday to protest against police brutality. Despite being on a medium that glamorizes reality, this campaign proved that we must confront systemic failings and refuse to ignore them.

Although #BlackoutTuesday was a successful campaign, there were several drawbacks that discredited the movement.

For starters, many of the blackout posts also included the hashtag “BlackLivesMatter,” effectively drowning out those who were trying to use the hashtag for the movement itself. As a result, the campaign counterintuitively silenced the voices of protestors — those who the campaign was trying to uplift — and created divisiveness.

By extension, such acts breed a form of ‘trend activism’ in which people speak up against injustices only when it is convenient to do so. Oftentimes, this does not amount to more than a repost on social media to prove one’s ‘wokeness.’ For those who have dedicated time and energy to causes that they are passionate about, this can be incredibly unnerving.

This has unnecessarily cleaved a wedge between people who are fighting for the same cause. In order to make progress, activism has to become more inclusive and meet people where they’re at, because rejecting support would be more debilitating to the movement in the long run.

Rather, the online community should allow for people to ease into civic engagement as they become more educated. Although this is not ideal, we have to adapt to the new normal if we want to create change.

Yana Sadeghi is a second-year international relations and peace, conflict, and justice student at New College.

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Bare noses barely comment on COVID-19 restrictions A critique of nose-out mask wearing

Ari Finnsson Varsity Contributor

While most school activities this year are taking place online, many students will, nonetheless, eventually have to go outside at some point. We may not be in classrooms much anymore, but we will still be coming into contact with people who are outside our social bubbles on at least a semi-regular basis.

Anyone who has ventured out beyond their Zoom sessions during this pandemic will have noticed a curious phenomenon: the below-the-nose mask wearer.

Given the steep rise in cases among young people in Toronto and elsewhere, and the recent news of two positive COVID-19 cases at the UTM Student Centre, perhaps it’s time for students at U of T to give the issue of masks some more thought.

While it’s relatively easy to understand the motivations of the total mask refuser — at best, some kind of ill-conceived sense of rebellion or personal independence and at worst, a conspiracy-fueled denial of the reality of the virus — the case of the partial mask seems at first glance a good deal more opaque, and more interesting. What drives these individuals to don the mask and then stop halfway, mere inches from their nostrils?

From the outset, we can distinguish between four rough categories of these nose rebels.

Firstly, we should remember that some

people have important reasons — whether medical or otherwise — that make them unable to wear the mask over their nose. This is not the category of people who concern us here.

Secondly, we must be charitable and admit that some individuals do take the pandemic seriously and are just unaware that proper mask wearing involves covering the nose.

Again, this set of individuals are not of interest in this moment, although one might like to recommend that they revisit their maskwearing policy.

Another group of individuals are those who, sharing some affinity with the anti-maskers, reject the reality of the virus but are unwilling to completely flout the law, and instead sneak their way around it by refusing to wear their mask properly.

Finally — and this is the group of most interest — there are those who accept the danger of COVID-19, but who wear their mask under their nose as a show of rebellion against the law.

Can we discern the motivations of that final group? The answer might lie in a rather unlikely source: a joke about the existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. One version of this joke goes like this.

The French existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre is sitting in a café when a waitress approaches him. “Can I get you something to drink,

Monsieur Sartre?”

Sartre replies, “Yes, I’d like a cup of coffee with sugar, but no cream.”

Nodding in agreement, the waitress walks off to fill the order and Sartre returns to working. A few minutes later, the waitress returns and says, “I’m sorry, Monsieur Sartre, we are all out of cream — how about with no milk?”

Hilarious, I know. But what relevance does this joke have to our nose-free maskers? Perhaps we can allow ourselves to rephrase it as follows.

A rebel without a cause is sitting in a café when a server approaches them: “Can I get you something to drink?”

X replies, “Yes, I’d like a cup of law with non-compliance, but no danger.”

Nodding in agreement, the server walks off to fill the order and X returns to grumbling. A few minutes later, the server returns and says, “I’m sorry, we are all out of no danger — how about with no resistance?”

Alright, so joke writing is not my strong suit, but we can work with this anyway.

The point is that the obligation to wear a mask has two dimensions: it is both an act of following the law and a public health directive. By refusing to wear the mask over the nose, these individuals defeat the point of the medical aspect — in fact, new research shows that the nose might actually be better at spreading COVID-19 than breathing from

the mouth.

Why wear a mask at all then, if they are going to leave their nose uncovered, one might wonder. The answer lies in a particular relationship to the law.

As the joke suggests, these people want to disobey the law without really putting themselves in danger of getting in trouble. What they accomplish, however, is a form of disobedience emptied of any real resistance.

This is not to suggest that total anti-mask advocates are engaged in a form of legitimate resistance, only to say that leaving the mask off entirely still takes the form of actual — selfish, in this case — refusal of the law’s jurisdiction over the individual.

The half-mask, however, breaks the letter of the law — the obligation to wear the mask properly — but, by wearing a mask at all, it does not question the force of the law, the idea that the law holds some kind of power over them.

By half-following the law, all these bare noses do is place themselves and others at risk while making absolutely no comment on the legitimacy of state intervention into our daily lives. The nose-out mask, then, is a completely pointless form of protest: do us all a favour and put your snout back in its place.

Ari Finnsson is a graduate student in the Department of History.

Looking for a marketing student for a five-week, remote part-time opportunity.

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Skills in LinkedIn, Facebook and Google Ads, digital marketing, analytics, and SEO highly valued.

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U of T’s reopening plans need to prioritize a green recovery Missing climate focus is worrying

Chiara Greco Varsity Contributor

U of T, along with many other universities across Canada, is facing the enormous challenge of safely reopening its campuses. As the U of T administration attempts this, it has seemingly looked past calls for a green recovery, and focused solely on the immediate effects of reopening for the economy instead of the potential long-term issues.

Green recovery has become a name that can be applied to environmental, regulatory, or fiscal reforms. Each of these reforms will work to help recover the economy, with the climate crisis in mind, post-COVID-19. A green recovery would entail investing in education, green infrastructure, prioritizing workers over high-carbon industries, and innovation in meeting Canada’s goal of netzero emissions.

Now, it would be remiss not to note the extreme devastation and trauma this pandemic has brought into the lives of many and the need for prioritizing healing in that avenue, but we cannot ignore the environmental reality the pandemic has revealed for us.

With economies shutting down in early April and countries going into lockdown, there came reports of lower emissions and short-term reductions in pollution across many parts of the world.

For example, according to a study published in ScienceDirect, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

Another research article, published by Nature Climate Change, noted that in early April, global CO2 emissions decreased by 17 per cent compared to 2019 levels.

However, this doesn’t mean that the climate crisis has disappeared. Even though there have been global reductions in emissions, this will mean

Voting in the American election: the struggle doesn’t stop at the ballot box Invest in activism, mutual aid to better serve marginalized communities Furqan Mohamed Varsity Contributor

It seems like everywhere you look, you cannot escape the looming American presidential election. From major celebrity endorsements to polls making the rounds everyday, everyone is waiting for the November showdown between incumbent US President Donald Trump and former Vice-President and Democratic nominee Joe Biden. It is no different for American students here at U of T. Trump is often described as the ultimate threat to democracy, LGBTQ+ and women’s rights, and much more, and some see a vote for Biden as a return to some kind of ‘normal.’

However, this thinking is predicated largely on Trump’s voting and legislative history. People have been so caught up in how awful Trump is and beating him in November that there hasn’t been a coherent interrogation of Biden’s history.

When examined, though, Biden’s legacy as a senator and former US vice-president is the root of many of the social issues we face today.

The 1994 crime bill, for example, was a bill born

nothing in the long-term unless those reductions become the consistent norm. Evidently, this points to the need for corporations and the administrations invested in them, like U of T, to take action.

There needs to be a commitment to a new green economic recovery, and this commitment needs to come from corporations and big businesses.

By committing and investing in green recovery, we further invest and commit in the protection of Canadians’ well-being and health rather than pure economic and fiscal goals. A green recovery would allow for us to globally build a more sustainable and economically inclusive future.

While U of T’s reopening plans have been criticized for a wide variety of reasons, there seems to

be little concern put toward the potential effects that this plan may also have on a green recovery. If we even look back to 2019 and U of T’s announcement of its Low Carbon Action Plan, the impact that COVID-19 will have on the timeline and movement of the plan remains unclear.

The administration is still investing in fossil fuels which will not only lead to financial risk but, with an institution as large as U of T, will also deepen its role in the climate crisis. A sound green recovery plan should allow for fiscal reforms and investing fossil fuel money elsewhere — notably toward the students and faculty at the university. It should also allow for U of T to dedicate itself to green infrastructure in energy efficiency so as to mitigate the

Chiara Greco is a fourth-year philosophy and English student at St. Michael’s College.

FIONA TUNG/THEVARSITY

from the Democratic Party’s attempt at the time to be “tougher on crime.” It called for an expansion of prisons and police and encouraged more drug-related arrests, amongst other strict judicial reforms.

This is not to mention his current political stances — such as not supporting “Medicare For All,” the proposed bill to grant Americans a single-payer health care system — are out of step with Democratic and independent voters.

Also, Biden voted to invade Iraq, which left the country in an economic downfall and caused political strife. The list goes on.

There is also the argument that Biden is the lesser of two evils, but it’s important to point out that that was also the argument made in 2016 about Hillary Clinton, and telling people to settle for a person who is a “lesser evil” is not exactly a fulfillment of democracy. Here we are, in 2020, with a Democratic nominee who does not excite young voters with the threat of US students having Trump for president once again.

Others say voting for Biden is “harm reduction” for marginalized communities, but that isn’t entirely the case. Voting as harm reduction assumes that elections are the foremost way of making progressive gains instead of “encouraging us to think about how we can take advantage of the election season to further our projects,” as David Camfield wrote in Briarpatch magazine.

Here in Canada, this logic sounds like “ABC,” better known as “anything but Conservative.”

Placing all our political energy on voting also ignores that many communities show us other forms of harm reduction. Activism and mutual aid often bring more direct results for marginalized communities, where legislation often fails.

People have developed community fridges to battle food insecurity and put together mutual aid funds in the face of cash-bail, all while waiting for politicians and legislation to catch up.

If change so often comes from the bottom up, it’s no wonder why some citizens choose to ignore the political process. They are already enacting change and harm reduction, and there is no reason to vote for politicians who won’t meet them where they already are. Choosing

effects of the climate crisis.

In response to calls for a green recovery, U of T, along with other Canadian institutions, signed an “Investing to Address Climate Change” charter in June, which noted the responsibility that universities have in acting constructively and proficiently to address the climate crisis and its implications for investment management. While this is just a charter, it seems to be a small step in the right direction, even as I question the language of “address climate change” instead of “act on climate change” in the construction of the charter.

Now, if we look at Universities Canada’s plan for a sustainable return, it seems evident that a green economic recovery is ultimately what is in everyone’s best interests. In fact, Universities Canada’s Budget 2021 submission recommended an investment “in green, digital and accessible university infrastructure as part of the federal government’s COVID-19 recovery plan.”

Canadian universities are a stepping stone toward national change, and as such, U of T needs to step up and do more to achieve a green recovery and help accelerate Canada’s overall ability to build a greener economic future.

We are at a point in time when we have the opportunity to reshape the global COVID-19 recovery in such a way that not only supports but also perpetuates a response and call to action toward fighting the climate crisis.

If we choose to move forward with a green economic recovery plan, there is the potential that we can adopt clean, sustainable, and green jobs for the future. As such, Canadian universities like U of T need to collaborate and mobilize so as to accelerate this green economic recovery plan to ensure that as we heal from the pandemic and step into a clean, green future.

JULIEN BALBONTIN/THEVARSITY

not to vote is a political act in itself, but there are people who cannot vote for reasons they are not in control of.

Voter suppression and problems getting to the voting booth frequently stop marginalized people from being counted, so placing stock in voting does not impact their lives in the way activism and mutual aid do. This is not to say that we should not fight to expand the vote, or that we should abandon voting entirely, but instead, we should try to understand why some choose to abstain from voting and why voting cannot be seen as a one time magical fix to our social and economic issues.

Those who can vote in the American election living on our side of the border feel strongly about what’s going on, too. “Like many voters, I’m [placed] in a forceful position of selecting between two evils,” Nawal Ali, a second-year political science student, wrote to The Varsity.

“I’m voting for and with the vulnerable, marginalized communities whom… will be deeply

impacted by trumps [sic] second term. Nevertheless, we must not abandon reimagining America’s existing social structures.”

Perhaps that is the main takeaway from this unique political moment that we are in. Regardless of who wins in November, a vote for Biden can be the beginning of something bigger than him. This idea should guide the ways we deal with future elections, too, making the ballot box only a stop in the pursuit of a more just world.

We should not settle for the arguments that Biden isn’t Trump, that he is “less worse,” or that voting is the most important thing we can do as citizens. Democracy isn’t perfect or neat, but we can do better than this. We should continue to invest in each other and the things we care about constantly, not just every two or four years.

Furqan Mohamed is a second-year English and women & gender studies student at New College.

10

THE VARSITY

FEATURES

When both my parents lost their jobs from COVID-19, I realized how much can change overnight Writer: Mélina Lévesque Illustrator/Photographer: Lilian Ho/Mélina Lévesque

Nothing really prepares you for the moment when you learn that your family’s financial future is about to take a 180, especially in the midst of a pandemic. For me, that moment came at the end of July.

I was in my room, finishing up one of my weekly lecture videos for a summer course. Maman and Papa had just returned from Montréal where they were interviewing contractors for their soon-to-be forever home house project.

I remember hearing an anxiousness in their voices when my brother and I called them while they were on the road. They were rushing home to prepare for a phone call that Papa was expecting later that day.

Working part time at his job as a simulator instructor due to the pandemic’s restrictions, Papa was feeling very positive about the news that this phone call could bring. After being laid off and then called back part time in April, we believed that this would be the phone call inviting him back to work full time.

With more and more businesses beginning to open up again and physical distancing measures seeming to be under control, it was only time before Papa got called back.

After my lecture, as I walked toward the door to the back patio to join the rest of my family, I noticed the tears wiped off on my mother’s face and the redness in her cheeks. Papa wasn’t with them. I didn’t get a chance to ask what was wrong before Maman shared the news.

“Papa just lost his job, permanently,” she said.

I remember feeling like my heart had dropped to the soles of my feet. Everything went blurry in those first few seconds after those words hit my ears. As Papa came through the back door to the terrace, I slowly walked up to him and gave him a hug. My mind racing and my head spinning, the only words that I could find myself to say were, “I’m so sorry. I love you.”

Despite the cold drizzle coming from the rain that day, my family and I sat outside, sheltered under the umbrella on our dining table with some candles lit at the centre. We sat there in silence, but it was very clear what all of us were thinking: “What do we do now?”

The look on my parents’ faces as we quietly pondered this question together is one that I will never forget.

Survival mode When Maman and Papa moved back to Canada from Abu Dhabi after 25 years, they were excited to start the next chapter of their lives together. Papa had been a pilot for almost 48 years and had recently gotten a job as a simulator instructor, which he was truly enjoying.

Papa has always been passionate about the adventures that came with flying and the opportunities that it gave him to see the world with his family. His position as a simulator instructor allowed him to share his love for flying with young cadets all while staying on the ground.

Being able to go to work in the morning and return in the afternoon to join Maman and the cats for dinner was something that he hadn’t always been given the chance to do before. He was excited to be able to be there indefinitely for birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, and graduations.

As a family, we were making the most of our first year in Canada all together. We enjoyed the beautiful colours of fall, ice skating on the frozen lake outside of our cozy little cottage, and the comforting feeling of knowing that we were finally all in the same time zone.

For the first time since moving to Canada, everything in my life seemed to be lining up. But by the end of March, both my mother and father were laid off from their jobs.

Like many other Canadians, Papa quickly applied for Unemployment Insurance (UI). My mother didn’t qualify for UI or the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) because she hadn’t worked for a long enough period before being laid off. Needless to say, any money that we could pull together was something.

We were happily surprised when, in the middle of April, Papa got called back to work part time. Getting the call that morning felt like an early birthday present to me. We told ourselves that this was better than nothing.

My father kept saying that he had a really good feeling about the possibility of being called back full time by the end of June or the beginning of July. That way, my brother and I could continue with our studies, the house renovations would be completed, and we would all be able to find some peace of mind.

But instead of getting the call to go back to

work, the night under the drizzly sky at our dining table hit us. In July, he was completely terminated. That news hit us all like a fastmoving freight train, and we’ve been trying to recover ever since.

Since August, Papa has been able to pick up a factory job working on an assembly line and putting together ventilators. He works 40 hours a week, from 2:00–10:00 pm. At the age of 68, Papa has found this job to be physically demanding at times, as he stands up for most of the day. This was a total and unprecedented shift for him.

While Papa likes the group of people that he works with, the emotional toll of everything that has happened still lingers prominently. His current job is a temporary contract that will take him only to December.

With COVID-19 cases rising daily, the beginning of a second wave in Québec, and new restrictions in place, it is still uncertain when many others like Papa will be able to go back to their former jobs. Our family’s financial situation is now in survival mode.

features@thevarsity.ca

“Ça va bien aller”: how our family learned to cope during our darkest moments

The financial breakdown While money was never an easy topic in our family, it is a sensitive one now more than ever. How to meet financial commitments for my brother’s and my university fees, rent, the construction of the new house, and other accumulating bills are the biggest questions.

Having only moved back to Canada less than a year ago, this was surely not the beginning of the next chapter of their lives together that my parents had prepared for. This thought brings me to tears every time I think about it.

As a 22 year old who has lived under her parents’ wings for financial security her whole life, I, along with my brother, wanted to support our mother and father in the same way that they had done for us. To do this, we needed to support ourselves by picking up extra shifts, and, in my case, looking for a second job.

I feel overwhelmed. There are many moments when the question of what could happen next consumes me and leads me to think of the worst possible outcomes. However, knowing that I am doing everything I can to make this work for my family eases the blow in the moments when I feel

lost and helpless.

The stress of finding a second job that matches my schedule with school, work, and other commitments has been very exhausting and time consuming. It’s been the cause of many sleepless nights and has significantly delayed my start to my final year at U of T. With money at the top of my priority list, or the lack thereof, I found it challenging to think about anything else, let alone focus on school and my job.

The truth was that the Canada Emergency Student Benefit (CESB) program that my brother and I had been receiving over the summer wasn’t going to be enough to cover the looming costs that stood before us. We knew this from the very start when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first announced the program back in April.

While the CESB may have been a move in the right direction for students struggling to find a summer job in May, assuming that set monthly payments of $1,250 was enough for all students was definitely wishful thinking. Let me break it down.

In order to qualify, your potential earnings were capped at $1,000 a month. The potential $2,250 that students could be earning each month was barely enough given the expenses that students face each year.

Take the average university tuition fees of $6,610 for domestic students and add the costs of other necessities. The cost of textbooks and school materials can run up into the hundreds, housing can cost on average $2,063 for a one bedroom unit in Toronto, and groceries can cost over $200 a month. CESB simply wasn’t sufficient.

I quickly realized that for some privileged students, CESB seemed to be a ‘free’ revenue stream. However, this wasn’t the case for many Canadian students who worked and continue to work to support themselves and their family.

These feelings are new to me, but they aren’t new to many. The unemployment rate in Canada was 10.2 per cent in August 2020. Over 14 per cent of Canadians have low incomes. Students in university who have low incomes or whose lives have been financially disrupted by the pandemic are in a precarious situation, as we have to balance deadlines for assignments and bills.

As I look for a second job on top of accumulating university obligations and graduate school applications, I don’t know how I will be able to manage these responsibilities and two jobs while prioritizing my mental health. I think about this often.

There have been many mornings when

I’ve woken up in pure disbelief, hoping that this was all just a bad dream. I can’t imagine my future anymore, and my financial insecurity makes me feel like I’m constantly treading water, trying to keep my head above the surface just enough so that I don’t plunge to the bottom.

Dealing with feeling powerless In moments of self-doubt, scrambling to pay bills, I find it very easy to begin to lose all hope in whether my goals for my future are even attainable anymore.

With this sense of hopelessness comes anger.

There are people truly suffering, who have lost their jobs and are living with severe uncertainty.

We are no longer on the cusp of a second wave; it has already begun. There are currently four million Canadians still in need of assistance from CERB. Québec is now experiencing a second wave of COVID-19 cases. Considering that my father works on a factory floor, I can’t help but worry for his safety.

Then, when I watch news stories of antimaskers protesting for their ‘liberties,’ crowded beaches and boardwalks in Vancouver, and embarrassingly large house parties and gatherings across Canada, it feels like salt in the wound. This selfishness and recklessness has angered me more than anything.

It felt like everyone else was blind to how much damage the pandemic had done to people’s lives. Even though I knew that this wasn’t the case, I couldn’t help but feel this way.

Sometimes, I used to resent the fact that not everyone had been affected by the pandemic like me. Seeing people live their lives relatively unchanged as I watched my family struggle through some of the most challenging times in our lives, made me feel alone and powerless. “Ça va bien aller.” Everything will be all right.

There are still days when this saying feels like a punch in the gut, but I quickly realized that being mad at the world wasn’t going to change anything.

Other days, the saying uplifts my spirits. That’s the thing that nobody tells you about dealing with a pandemic: while words of encouragement may make you want to scream sometimes, they can also be a powerful way to gain strength in unity, knowing that you are not alone.

Even in my darkest moments, the strength of my family keeps me going. Knowing that my father is walking onto that factory floor five days a week, that my mom is learning how to navigate a new job online, that together we are learning how to make the best of our situation, reminds me that now is absolutely not the time to give up.

The day in the Dolomites When I think back to when we first received the news of my father’s termination in late July, what stands out to me isn’t so much the sadness and shock that we all felt in those moments. Rather, it’s what happened next.

That night, my brother prepared the most delicious chicken parmesan that you’ve ever tasted, and we shared a beautiful family meal outside under the stars. The conversation during dinner was not oriented around our family’s news. Instead, we spent the evening reminiscing about our fond memories of the summer of 2019, during our last family vacation hiking the Dolomites in Italy.

There was one day in particular we remembered most about that trip. It was one of our last days there. We had packed some baguette sandwiches with prosciutto, brie, and mustard, hoping to find the perfect spot for lunch.

After several hours of cycling through leftover snow and mud, we eventually found our way to the cliff of a mountain. The view was absolutely breathtaking. We were starstruck by the beauty.

After we each ate our sandwiches and enjoyed a small siesta on the grass, Papa got us all together to take a family photo before we began our descent down the mountain.

One year later, instead of wallowing in the news of how our lives were about to change, sharing stories of family memories over a delicious candlelit dinner reminded us of what would never change: the memories that we’ve shared, and how much we love one another. Just like the majestic mountains of the Dolomites, no matter what this pandemic would throw at us, our family would be unbreakable.

As we sat there at the dinner table exchanging stories from that holiday, I remember Papa taking my mother’s hand as he shared how much that day meant to him. And with another squeeze of my mother’s fingers, Papa reached out his other hand to me and my brother and said, “We’re going to be okay.”

Arts & Culture

October 5, 2020 var.st/arts arts@thevarsity.ca

How U of T satire publications keep the jokes flowing — even through Zoom meetings The Boundary, The Toike Oike on confronting the pandemic head on

Moving online in light of COVID-19 was a daunting prospect, but these publications adapted.

SAMANTHA YAO/THEVARSITY

Sarah Williams Varsity Contributor

find ways to continue to grow The Toike… [because] it really is an awesome group to be a part of.”

Many U of T students turn to the university’s satire publications for catharsis and distraction online. Now, as U of T has largely pivoted to online delivery in light of COVID-19, this is as true as ever.

The Varsity spoke to two satire publications, The Boundary and The Toike Oike, to find out how they are adjusting to a new media landscape.

How to crack jokes over Zoom Johnston attributes the widespread demand for satire during the pandemic to its ability to draw from current events. It is popular because people have shared feelings and experiences from the past six months that they can relate to through humour.

It did feel refreshing to laugh as I scrolled through Toike TV’s video content before my interview with Spencer Ki. He and Joel Kahn are the first official directors of the channel.

“It’s a nice way of staying current without becoming overwhelmed by the [constant] news cycle, because you’re still keeping up with the general ideas of what’s going on without just seeing the constant barrage of negatives,” Ki explained.

“I think that’s a general phenomenon, but I think if it’s a general phenomenon, it could definitely be ascribed to U of T as well.”

Both The Boundary and The Toike underwent a learning curve while adjusting to production and publication changes caused by COVID-19. “Truth be told we don’t exactly have a regular [publication] schedule,” Ki said.

Ki’s genial appreciation for his co-editor is palpable.

He credits Kahn for the ease at which their team produces and edits videos while physically distanced.

A bigger market for humour?

The Boundary’s readership has grown since March, when many students were pushed out of residences. Its readership is still rising, as a mass of first-year students who cannot be on campus — but want to feel a sense of community — begin classes.

“We’re seeing such a large increase because they’re trying so hard to get involved,” said The Boundary’s Managing Editor Emory Claire Mitchell. She suspects that students are more eager to interact with the publication because online classes may not be conducive to meeting people, and thus engaging in student life.

Several incoming first-years have reached out to The Toike’s Editor-in-Chief Parker Johnston over the summer. It is clear to him that the demand for satire and humour at the university has grown.

“We are hopeful for the future,”he said.“I think that’s just something that’s absolutely awesome, to be able to

How do you make friends on Zoom university?

A first year student shares tips, tricks on building community this year

Ashiana Sunderji Varsity Contributor

A month before school started, I knew only three other students starting their first year at U of T. I feared that there would be classes where I would know no one, and that, consequently, I would be missing out on the friend groups and the solidification of long-lasting relationships that usually come with first year.

In short, I anticipated that online university would be very isolating.

Now, three weeks in, I’ll be honest — I spend the majority of my weekdays at a desk in a room learning asynchronously or listening to live lectures where the only evidence of other students is the spam of messages in the Zoom chat — if the professor hasn’t disabled it.

However, like with any experience, you get what you make out of it, and connecting with others is probably the best way to get a lot out of anything.

Surprisingly, I’ve made quite a few friends, and I’ve compiled a list of ways that you can obtain a healthy social life while attending Zoom university.

Be engaged in breakout rooms We have all been in that one breakout room where every other student has their camera off and their mic muted. It is incredibly awkward, and in addition to not being able to connect with anyone, you don’t really learn anything either.

It is hard to get through to someone when you are muted and are simply a name in a rectangular box on their screen.

The simplest way to make friends is to turn your camera on. Once one person turns on their camera, the rest follow and you’ve broken a layer of ice. Turn on your mic, introduce yourself, and eventually, everyone is chatting about where they are from, the classes they are enjoying, and how they have been coping with Zoom university.

Exchange emails or social media handles, and now you have a contact in your class!

Message the people you add on social media Simply following people on social media doesn’t lead to an automatic friendship. Staying in touch is important. You can message them about a common class or just school life in general.

“Because he can splice together things that look natural, even though we’re all in different locations, even though we’re using stock photos and stock videos, he can make it look perfect,” Ki said.

The Toike found transitioning to online idea meetings difficult because it can be hard to engage everybody on one Zoom call. They split off into smaller breakout rooms to improve the situation. “They can talk about their ideas better,” said Johnston.

The Boundary’s Editor-in-Chief Nona Jalali described a similar experience: “I think with comedy, especially, there’s a really important point to be had in kind of riffing off of each other’s ideas. And so obviously we can still do that online, but when you’re in person and you think of something and you’re in a comfortable space, it just makes it so much easier to say whatever’s on your mind.”

Despite the initial challenge, the publication was posting content two to three times a week by late March. “Weirdly enough,” Jalali added, “I think we’ve gotten used to it to a point where now our meetings just look basically exactly the same as they did before.”

The Toike has already printed and mailed out its September issue but plans to distribute the rest of this year’s editions solely online.

“The Toike is one of the few newspapers, I dare say in the world, that can’t go out of print literally… because of the Toiking ritual,” Ki acknowledged.

“It can’t stop printing because the engineers need to

rub it on each other’s face; when they rub it on each other’s faces, they sometimes open it up and they appreciate U of T-centred content.”

Laughter is the medicine for the COVID-19 blues The pandemic has created an environment in which the publications can be more innovative and creative.

Johnston disclosed that The Toike’s October issue is titled “QuaranToike.”

“We’re planning to tackle this thing head on,”he said.

It is important to him that the publication finds different ways to engage with the community online.

“We’re coming up with a lot of unique ways in which we can engage people,” Johnston said. The Toike had its first digital movie night on August 22. The film was Cats, which Parker reassured was 100 per cent “a movie that was filmed.”

Meanwhile, Toike TV has created advertisements to play before The Toike’s digital events. It tries to make the experience reminiscent of in-theatre entertainment.

Kahn recorded the 20th Century Fox fanfare over anthropomorphic animals for the video played before Cats.

“And, in a way, it was better quality than the movie,” said Ki. The Boundary had been planning a physical publication for the end of the school year and intends to revisit the project once physical magazines are widely circulated again. For now, its staff members have been focusing their attention on matching witty headlines with clever photos for their Facebook posts, which, according to Mitchell, have recently picked up more interaction.

“Fashion-Conscious Vic Student Thrifts Vintage Mask from Kensington,” reads one post accompanied by a picture of a girl with a photoshopped plague-doctor mask over her face. “Brandy Melville Launches ‘OneSize-Fits-All’ PPE,” read another.

The importance of maintaining balanced content was mentioned by all the interviewees. It is paramount to draw from all of 2020’s events without tiring their audiences with the same jokes.

“We want to bring people out of the sad and focus more on the funny, so we can’t lean too much into [the sad],” explained Ki. As the school year starts up, campus satire is looking to focus on humour that students can relate to. It can be an effective way of helping them cope, considering that the typical university experience — especially the first-year experience — has been especially afflicted by the pandemic.

Disclosure: Spencer Ki is The Varsity’s business & labour editor.

Like any real-life friendship, online friendships require effort, and it can be hard to remember to initiate conversations when people aren’t right in front of you.

Study in virtual groups If you’ve added people on social media from a breakout room, you can simply reach out and ask them if they are willing to set up a call where you can study together.

Study groups are a great way to meet people you can relate to, and the conversation will always flow naturally because you have a topic of focus for your call.

Furthermore, virtual study groups can simulate the atmosphere of studying with others at the library and will help you both academically and socially. If you have had a hard time adding friends on social media, join a registered study group. I have made tons of friends in my registered study group for biology!

Participate in online extracurriculars Clubs are a great way to meet people. I know lots of students who have written off clubs this se-

EVELYN HAYES/THE VARSITY

mester because most — if not all — are operating online. However, think of it this way: even if they are virtual for the time being, what better way is there to meet people with the same interests as you?

It can be hard to truly express yourself online, and that’s why it feels as if there are tons of social barriers. However, remember that making friends can only help you feel more connected during this time, and although it may take some effort, the steps are simple and can be very effective in the long run.

var.st/arts

OCTOBER 5, 2020

13

Book review: They Said This Would Be Fun

A remarkable memoir about being a Black student on a white Canadian campus

A debut novel on fighting for space wihtin a racist and sexist campus culture.

COURTESY OF PENGUINRANDOMHOUSE AND COREY MISQUITA

Joel Ndongmi Varsity Contributor

Eternity Martis begins her memoir, They Said This Would Be Fun: Race, Campus Life, and Growing Up, with the last day of orientation on Western University’s “giant grassy quad.”

In a few brushstrokes, she paints an image of Western that all are familiar with: the school with epic parties. The often-called “best four years of your life” become distorted through her lived experience as a Black woman on a predominantly white campus.

In her straightforward prose, she breaks down her university experiences with tact and humour, weaving together the complicated dynamics of race with themes of self-discovery, systems of oppression, and relationships — all under an overarching feminist frame.

Growing up within a multiracial family, born of

an Irish and Pakistani mother and Jamaican father, Martis mentions that identity wasn’t a topic of discussion for the South Asian side of her family, and that her absent father didn’t connect her to her Jamaican heritage.

This situation left her as a “multiracial woman with Black features in a family of brown people.”

As she left her hometown of Toronto to attend Western University, she “wondered what kind of person [she] was outside those confines, and university seemed like a good place to start solidifying the pieces of [herself ] that [she] felt [she] couldn’t explore back home.”

As a Black person, I have found a reflection of my dilemmas through her experiences. At Western, almost everyone she interacted with referred to her Blackness either through microaggressions or through the constant hypersexualization of her body.

During my time at an all-boys high school, I’ve had my Blackness questioned multiple times. The most creative remark I’ve received is that I was akin to an Oreo cookie — Black on the outside, white on the inside. All this was because I was soft-spoken, academically inclined, and overall more feminine — traits that clashed against the narrow definition of what Blackness encompasses.

While these were said with the intention of joking, constant exposure to these jokes for four years chipped away at my — at the time — fragile conception of self.

While I’ve been able to ‘confirm’ my identity by making Black friends at Victoria College, Martis struggles to do so in a white institution desolate of Black people. Often, her Black folk were hostile against each other due to the sense that they were being policed by simply being visibly Black on a white campus.

During her time on campus, Martis writes about encountering blackface on campus; being called the n-word, Ebony, Ma, and Chocolate; and being hypersexualized and outcast by her white peers in class.

The strength of her novel is that she ties in statistics and research to her personal experiences. She uses data to situate her experiences within the greater scope of racism in Canadian universities.

For example, at one point she mentions that she had dealt with racism using binge-eating. She then points to research that depicts racism as a chronic stressor amongst racialized populations. Her active approach vivifies her experiences and makes them harder to dismiss as isolated incidents.

The epitome, and perhaps the most refreshingly candid point of this novel, is when she outlines the concept of white rage.

In her unvarnished prose, she writes, “White rage is considered a legitimate, acceptable form of anger—one intended to maintain the integrity and purity of the country—so it is rarely viewed as threatening. White rage encourages and enacts violence against racialized bodies; yet when racialized people speak up against harm, they are told by society that they don’t have a right to be angry.”

In this era of Black Lives Matter, discussions surrounding racism and our institutions have been galvanizing mass reforms. Incidentally, one doesn’t have to look far on social media to see the experiences of Black other racialized people being undermined.

In some of my conversations with my peers, I’ve found myself wanting to package my own emotions to fit the concept of white fragility. I’m certain this is something many other racialized students have dealt with during these times.

In her final year, Martis directed the musical For colored girls who have considered suicide /When the rainbow is enuf by Ntozake Shange. Near the end of the play, a character in the play says, “bein colored is a metaphysical dilemma / i haven’t conquered yet.”

By the end of the novel, Martis hasn’t fully digested the politicization of her Blackness, just like I have not. It’s an ongoing process for some Black and racialized youth. Hand in hand with her crew on the stage, she instinctively feels “the reassurance that everything [is] going to be okay.”

This is the hope that keeps us going, the hope for a better tomorrow.

How I learned to forgive the guy who cheated on me Let’s talk about sex, betrayal, and moving on

Jessica Han Varsity Contributor

Remember that feeling when you first met them?

When you started to develop a crush? When you entered a relationship with that person? All you had were butterflies in your stomach, rays of sunshine and rainbows floating everywhere, and a smile so big it was hard to hide.

That feeling when you get cheated on? Well, your smile turns into a frown, and it’s basically impossible to turn that frown upside down. You turn into a complete trainwreck, become a blubbering mess, and eat loads of ice cream.

I’ll admit, that was me: a complete mess.

I cried hard — the type of crying where snotty tears and hiccups were coming out and didn’t stop. I curled up in my bed, and I just wanted to sleep forever, to never think about it again.

At first, I was so hurt. Only later did my feelings of resentment and anger come. How dare he cheat on me? I never thought I would ever get cheated on. But it happened.

I was tempted to get back with him. It crossed my mind a dozen times. Yes, I know: what on earth was I thinking? He cheated on me, and yet a part of me still wanted to go back. I kept wondering if we should try the relationship again —

if it would go differently the second time.

I eventually ended up coming to my senses, smacked my forehead a bit, and determined that I can’t go back to someone who cheated on me in the first place. So I moved on and stopped thinking about it.

My first step of moving on was taking a deep breath and trying to control all the anger I was feeling. Well, actually, before that, I took a book and threw it at the wall. However, I kept my mind busy, took some time for myself to reflect, and grew as an individual.

My second step was about forgiving. I learned to let go of my resentment and started to forgive.

I thought about why he cheated on me in the first place. It took a while to fully forgive him, and eventually, I did.

We exchanged some conversations here and there, but in time, I stopped talking to him. I just had no interest in continuing to contact him even though I forgave him. Time passed, and now, I don’t think about him.

Moving on when someone cheats on you requires time and a lot of forgiveness — emphasis on a lot. It’s a hard task to do. Someone so close to you ends up completely betraying you.

Of course, you’re going to feel angry and throw some books around. But, in order to fully move

TROY LAWRENCE/THE VARSITY

on, you need to let it go.

When I look back at that fiasco, I realize that I learned a lot from it: how to forgive someone who used to be so close to you, move on from it, and grow as a person. As you grow older, you gain more life experiences, and this is one of

them.

I learned to forgive the guy who cheated on me. So, to those readers who have also been cheated on, go out with your friends, maybe throw some stuff around, take it as a life lesson, and just forgive.

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ARTS & CULTURE

arts@thevarsity.ca

What can classic literature teach us about COVID-19?

Ira Wells on the lessons learned from The Plague and A Journal of the Plague Year Elizabeth Chen Varsity Contributor

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, public interest in plague literature like Albert Camus’ novel The Plague has skyrocketed.

With this renewed interest has come discoveries of parallels between books from decades or centuries ago and our current situation. It’s worth asking what purpose plague literature can serve and what it can teach us about our circumstances.

In response to these questions, academic programs director at Victoria College and former English professor Ira Wells argued that “plague literature serves to remind us of a radical vulnerability in the face of the unknown.”

Wells wrote, “Despite all of our medical and scientific advances, there is an invisible world that we do not understand.”

He continued by writing that “the ‘plague’ in plague literature is real, but it also stands for the radical uncertainty in which all human life must endure.”

While reminding us of our vulnerability, plague literature can provide a reference for us to examine how we face uncertainty.

Confronting human behaviour in the face of plagues There are a multitude of ways that authors choose to spin their tales on pandemics. Renowned authors from different times have taken their turn at writing about plagues, leaving behind valuable works that are still being read today.

From Giovanni Boccaccio’s classic Italian prose novel The Decameron to more modern historical fiction novels such as Year of Wonders by Geraldine

Brooks, these works of literature all share the ability to offer us insight on people’s behaviour when they are faced with an unknown and frightening situation.

A classic work of plague literature is Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year. This novel is an account of the bubonic plague in London. Wells cited this book as one he’ll never forget reading, noting that the “visceral scenes of horror” that the novel includes are memorable.

Defoe does indeed often conjure up graphic images in A Journal of the Plague Year, writing about fear and panic overrunning the city. He describes affluent people fleeing the city while those affected by poverty have nowhere to go, and people taking advantage of the fear to try to sell useless concoctions that supposedly protect against the plague.

Defoe’s parallels with COVID-19 Wells points out a “contemporary parallel” about quarantine in Defoe’s novel and the current situation about how people are growing restless and unhappy due to the restrictions being placed on them.

“As the philosopher Giorgio Agamben has recently (and controversially) illustrated, a vigorous government public health response may be interpreted as authoritarian overreach or even a form of biopolitics,” Wells wrote.

He continued, “Our efforts to contain the virus may be necessary; they may also breed unintended consequences. We may need our own Defoe to tell that story 50 years from now.”

However, Defoe does not mean to solely condemn the entire city. For instance, when he speaks of how there are always enough volunteers to bury those killed by the plague, he writes, “It was never to be said of London that the living were not able to

bury the dead.”

Defoe also aims to point out the resilience that the city displayed and to commend acts of heroism and kindness that took place throughout the bubonic plague.

Camus’ selfishness and altruism Another prominent example of literature about plagues is the novel The Plague, published in 1947 by Camus. In The Plague, Camus writes about an Algerian town where the bubonic plague struck.

When faced with disaster and looming death, how do Camus’ characters react?

Unfortunately, there MIA C ARNE VALE are some who fail to rise /THE to the occasion. They are unable to see the need to consider the effect of their actions on others, and they fail to recognize that their selfish choices can have dire consequences on the lives of others.

At the same time, in contrast to the bad that a pandemic can bring out in people, Camus also highlights the altruism that can occur. He writes, “What’s true of all the evils in the world is true of plague as well. It helps men to rise above themselves.”

Despite the prevailing hopelessness and difficulties that plague the novel, Camus, much like Defoe, emphasizes that the good outweighs the bad.

Although the plagues in novels such as A Journal of the Plague Year and The Plague are far behind us, our generation has a new disease that has completely changed and will continue to alter the way we live for the foreseeable future.

Wells cautioned that “the vaccine for COVID-19 will arrive, but the plague will go on.” He wrote, “That may sound unbearably depressing, but it doesn’t have to be.”

Authors like Defoe and Camus did not diminish the horrors that people can commit during a plague, but they also sought to emphasize the good in people.

While we cannot control the virus itself, we can look to plague literature and realize that we are in control of how we react to the situation, which could very much be a positive thing. In the words of Camus, “to state quite simply we learn in times of pestilence: that there are more things to admire in men than to despise.”

Food for Thought: Drinks edition

Student recipes for whipped coffee, hot cocoa, pumpkin spice latte, and lemonade!

Roshni Ravi, Candice Zhang, Nancy Dutra, Mona Liu Varsity Contributors

The best whipped coffee for coffee enthusiasts,

by Mona Liu As the school year progresses and work begins to pile up, this recipe is the best way to start your day or get you through some last-minute cramming.

I’m sure most people with access to the internet have heard of, or even tried, whipped — or dalgona — coffee by now. But if you’re like me and enjoy a “double shot on ice, half sweet” over an iced latte, you might also prefer actually being able to taste the coffee in your drink.

Thus, adding cold brew and milk to the drink creates a richer, more refreshing, and perfectly balanced bittersweet iced coffee.

Ingredients: For the cold brew: 1 cup of your favourite ground coffee beans 3 cups of cold filtered water A large mason jar Half a sheet of paper towel An elastic band or mason jar band A coffee filter or cheesecloth For the whipped coffee — also known as dalgona coffee: 1 tablespoon instant coffee 1 tablespoon (light) brown sugar 1 tablespoon warm water 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract Preferred milk A frother, whisk, handmixer, or fork Directions: For the cold brew, put the ground coffee beans in the jar, then fill with cold water. You can also use

a French press to make straining easier.

Place the paper towel on the opening and close the lid or elastic band around it to let the brew breathe.

Refrigerate overnight for 12–20 hours, depending on how strong you want the coffee.

The next day, strain your brew into a new jar with your filter. You now have a fresh cold brew that will last about a week in the fridge.

For the whipped coffee, add equal portions of your instant coffee, brown sugar, vanilla, and water into a cup.

Using your mixer, beat ingredients until the mixture reaches a fluffy, meringue-like consistency.

Grab a separate drinking cup, preferably about 1.5 cups in volume.

Fill half of your glass with ice and pour your cold brew halfway.

Fill the rest with milk, leaving some space on top.

Scoop in your whipped coffee.

If you like, you can top it off with a drizzle of caramel. Mix well and enjoy!

Notes: The classic recipe calls for white sugar, which also tastes and whips great. However, brown sugar, when paired into the cold brew, allows hints of molasses to accentuate the natural toasted taste of the cold brew — it is also healthier.

You can also make a larger whipped coffee batch using equal portions of the ingredients and store it in the freezer to use other days so you don’t have to go through the tedious mixing process every time you want it.

Personally I prefer to use coconut or almond milk because it gives a lighter, refreshing taste, but cow milk will also taste great and smooth.

Also, as a rule of thumb, cold brew needs to be diluted with one to one or one to two ratios of

water or milk because of its concentrated brew.

Hot cocoa for one, by Nancy Dutra When it comes to hot chocolate, I know what I like and I expect a lot. My cocoa concoction must satisfy and spark fuzzy feelings akin to being wrapped in a warm blanket. In other words, it must make everything better — even if only temporarily. I like my chocolate rich and my milk creamy and I add toppings according to my mood and the season. Garnishing my chocolat chaud with whipped cream is always a treat. But adding torched marshmallows gives this comforting drink a layer of decadence and evokes fond memories of campfires with family and friends.

Ingredients: 1 cup whole milk or milk substitute 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 1–2 tablespoons granulated sugar Pinch of salt Whipped cream (optional) Torched marshmallows (optional) Directions: Whisk together milk with the cocoa, sugar, and salt over medium heat until the cocoa and sugar have dissolved.

Add remaining milk and stir frequently until scalding and bubbles appear on sides of the saucepan but the milk is not quite boiling.

Then, turn off the heat and add desired toppings.

Sit back, let go of the day, and savour the experience.

Pumpkin spice latte recipe for the fall, by Candice Zhang The season for the notorious pumpkin spice latte

has arrived, again. The term ‘pumpkin spice’ was first introduced in a recipe published in 1936, and around 67 years later, Starbucks introduced its own pumpkin spice latte drink to the market.

However, there was quite a catch; Starbucks never actually used pumpkin as an ingredient until 2015.

Since we are making our own pumpkin spice latte, we can add whatever ingredients we want to make the beverage healthier. If you are interested in making your own pumpkin spice latte at home, follow the recipe below!

Ingredients: 1 cup milk 2 tablespoons of pumpkin puree 1/2–1 tablespoon of sugar 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon black coffee 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon of caramel sauce Whipped cream Plastic wrap Directions: Put the milk, pumpkin puree, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla extract in a bowl together.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and poke a small hole.

Heat it in the microwave for around two to three minutes.

Whisk the ingredients until a foamy texture is achieved.

Pour the coffee into a separate cup.

Add the previous mixture to the coffee and caramel.

Stir and finish with whipped cream.

Science

October 5, 2020 var.st/science science@thevarsity.ca

“Pedagogy cannot come at the cost of health and safety”: a review of in-person labs

The Varsity looks into safety procedures, the shift to online learning Oviya Muralidharan Varsity Contributor

In the summer, the University of Toronto announced that it would offer a mix of online and in-person courses this fall semester. This announcement was met with strong pushback from faculty members and staff. A petition launched by the unions representing faculty, administrative staff, and contract workers called on U of T to ‘take a pause’ from most in-person teaching and amassed over 6,500 signatures.

Currently, only around 10 per cent of the undergraduate courses in the Faculty of Arts & Science have an in-person component, a majority of them being teaching labs. The Varsity reviewed the safety protocols surrounding these labs.

Classroom sizes capped, questionable masks provided Firstly, in-person class sizes have been reduced and capped at a maximum of 50 people, including teaching assistants (TAs) and instructors, according to provincial gathering limits. Furthermore, U of T is providing two non-medical masks to each student, staff, faculty member, and librarian. However, the effectiveness of the masks has been called into question because they are made of polyester instead of cotton.

Additionally, instructors can exempt students from wearing masks if learning activities can be performed safely with physical distancing and wearing a mask impacts the activities’ effectiveness.

According to Amy Conwell, Chair of CUPE 3902 — the union that represents contract academic workers, including TAs who teach in labs — this is especially concerning given the risk of asymptomatic and airborne transmission of COVID-19.

The use of shared equipment is minimized with specific protocol in place. “For example, a TA may operate the equipment while a student observes

from two metres away, or students may operate equipment one-at-a-time, disinfecting after each user,” Dr. Ahlia Khan-Troitter, Director of the Division of Teaching Labs, wrote in an email interview with The Varsity.

U of T also has a detailed Heating, Ventilation,

san McCahan, U of T’s Vice-Provost Academic Programs and Vice-Provost Innovations in Undergraduate Education, noted, “There are specific guidelines for all in-class instruction and teaching labs that go over everything from physical distancing, extra cleaning, new wipe dispensers, more

The university is providing free non-medical masks for students, but their effectiveness has been questioned.

SAMANTHA YAO/THEVARSITY

and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) strategy. “The university has inspected and upgraded (where necessary) ventilation equipment in all of its academic and administrative buildings to ensure they are operating at or above industry standards,” KhanTroitter wrote.

In a written interview with The Varsity, Su-

hand sanitizers, plexiglass barriers, and heating and ventilation filters that exceed industry standards.”

“Labs will also follow special booking procedures to ensure physical distancing; start/end times will be staggered where possible and there will be extra time between labs to properly disinfect areas in between sessions,” McCahan added.

Grooming your eyebrows too much? You might be a narcissist

U of T duo win Ig Nobel Prize in Psychology for funny finding

In the study, eyebrow distinctiveness was the most accurate identifier of narcissism.

SAMANTHA YAO/THEVARSITY

Kashaf Salaheen Varsity Contributor

COVID-19 has hit some people in a particularly devastating way. With salons and eyebrow threading stores having been closed due to COVID-19, individuals all around the globe have been left with uneven, uncontrollable eyebrows.

Now, a U of T prize-winning psychology paper says that those who fret the most about their eyebrows are best left alone at parties.

The Ig Nobel Prizes — often referred to as the “other Nobel” — are satirical awards that aim to honour scientific research that is particularly funny or

weird. This year, the psychology prize went to a University of Toronto duo who studied the link between eyebrows and grandiose narcissism. The research contained several different studies in order to understand the link between eyebrows and narcissism.

What’s so telling about eyebrows?

In a series of three studies, the researchers took cropped photographs of 39 undergraduate students and presented them to participants. Participants were asked to identify how “egotistical, self‐focused, and vain” people looked based off of particular facial features.

Each photographed person had also completed a

standard test called the Narcissistic Personality Inventory that can detect a non-disordered amount of narcissism. With these results, researchers were able to assess exactly which facial features indicate narcissism and how accurate those first-impressions are. In general, eyebrows were perceived as a strong — and accurate — indicator of someone’s narcissism.

According to the study, a pair of eyebrows appear more or less narcissistic based on three key factors: distinctiveness, grooming, and perceived femininity.

The most accurate factor in judging narcissism was distinctiveness. Distinctive eyebrows were ones notable for their thickness, colour, and spacing.

Dr. Nicholas Rule, a professor in the Department of Psychology, is one of the co-authors of the study.

The lead author of the study is Rule’s former postdoctoral fellow Dr. Miranda Giacomin, a current professor at MacEwan University in Alberta.

Rule explained by email that he was excited to win, and the Ig Nobels were something he had heard of just before he started graduate school. He wrote, “Although they may seem like an embarrassing spoof, some of the work that won the award… has become very meaningful as time has worn on. I hope the same for our findings.”

Underlying the research is the question of why individuals try to identify people’s facial characteristics in the first place. Rule wrote that people are often curious about other people and that they “try to identify as much about them as they can.” A person’s face can be used to create inferences on how they may act — which may or may not be correct.

And why use eyebrows to make these judgments?

“Eyebrows are a high-contrast part of the face that are visible from great distances,” Rule wrote. “They’re

Balancing positives with concerns So, what’s it like on ground zero? Look no further than Fatima Altaf, a UTSC student currently enrolled in CHMC47 — Bio-Organic Chemistry, an in-person lab where attendance is optional with limited space and concurrent online labs are offered.

“I chose to attend an in-person lab because of the practical skills that labs provide for students,” Altaf wrote. “I feel very safe attending the in-person labs because there is plenty of social distancing, safety measures and protocols that are followed and practised by all staff and students.”

However, despite the positive learning outcomes of in-person labs, there are multiple concerns.

“Pedagogy cannot come at the cost of health and safety. Now, in the middle of the second wave, cases are popping up across campus, including a case in a lab just this week,” Conwell wrote. The Varsity could not independently verify Conwell’s claim of a COVID-19 case in a lab.

Furthermore, the experience of in-person labs this semester looks different. “Under the present circumstances, students are required to work alone, and interactions with instructors and TAs must be done in a manner that follows physical distancing guidelines,” wrote Dr. Kimberly Strong, Chair of the Department of Physics, which has two labs running only in person this fall.

“This year, most of these discussions are necessarily taking place online, and students are also not as free to discuss things amongst themselves as they would be in normal circumstances,” Strong added.

Khan-Troitter teaches an in-person course, BCH370 — Laboratory Course in Biochemical Techniques, and wrote, “The practical hands-on experience that labs provide to students is invaluable. They can see and feel the theory come to life… I am doing everything I can to provide this experience to students in a safe manner.”

“At the same time, I understand the importance of providing a lab experience for those students who cannot attend in person, so I am also developing virtual lab content (e.g., videos, interactive simulations, live demos) to provide as much of an immersive experience as I can for the online section in the Winter term,” Khan-Troitter added. also sexually dimorphic, meaning men and women typically have different eyebrow styles (on average) that distinguish a person’s sex.”

“Narcissism is obviously a much more complex social trait but it’s not outlandish to think that people might use eyebrows for such a higher-level judgment, given [their] role in more basic perceptions,” Rule added.

What’s it like to win a humorous science prize?

In terms of the reception from colleagues and friends, Rule explained that it has been “a little teasing but uniformly positive.” He noted that he was teased about the findings when the research was initially published, so it was something he was used to.

When asked about how this research idea came to be, he wrote that Giacomin was studying narcissism as a graduate student when she first came to work at his social perception lab, “so it was a natural marriage of our research interests.” Rule explained that they never really expected themselves to land on eyebrows.

However, he wrote, “In hindsight, it’s not too surprising: people (even face perception researchers) often overlook the importance of eyebrows but they’re critically important. For example, it’s easier to recognize someone without being able to see their eyes than it is to recognize that same person without being able to see their eyebrows.”

Despite this study, Rule shared that he was not previously conscious about his eyebrows. He wrote that people are now more self-conscious around him once they learn about his research, but it has not changed his attitude about his own eyebrows.

“For the Ig Nobel ceremony, they asked us to do something silly, so I quickly grabbed some (blue) painter’s tape and scribbled some eyebrows on them with a Sharpie to wear,” Rule wrote. “I didn’t even look in the mirror before we did the recording.”

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SCIENCE

science@thevarsity.ca

Winners from the Pueblo Science hackathon share tips and tricks

The in and outs you need to know before joining a hackathon Candice Zhang Varsity Staff

From September 19–27, Pueblo Science — a registered charity founded by U of T Professor Dr. Cynthia Goh and alum Dr. Mayrose Salvador — developed its second annual Hackathon for Science Education. The hackathon was hosted online through Devpost, Discord, and Zoom.

During the event, over 16 teams worked together on developing science kits to address the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Mentors and teachers chimed in to help the students refine their projects, and speakers hosted workshops for the students.

Some sessions were focused on entrepreneurship, while others focused on developing a ‘design thinking’ perspective. Hence, the event also allowed students to develop soft and hard skills when working toward a project.

The challenge for this year’s hackathon was to create an interactive experiment for high school students in the Philippines. In order to address the SDGs of quality education, industry, innovation, and infrastructure, students focused on developing innovative solutions to solve environmental issues pertaining to the country.

After a three-hour period of presentations on September 27, winners were announced. The two top-prize winners were members of Team 1, Sydney Mendoza, Ru Yi, Elizabeth Pratt, Kawther Bouzeghaya, and Bipasha Goyal; and Team 14, Chirag Chopra, Ramsha Junaid, Natalia Irfan, Kanza Rizwan, and Rajeshwar Lally.

The Varsity reached out to ask the two teams about their experiences with attending the hackathon, working as a team, and developing project proposals.

The project proposals Since the topic placed a huge focus on the environment, both teams worked in their respective groups to address the issues of sustainability, the climate crisis, and natural disasters. Team 14 developed a sea-

bin made from household materials to collect and filter waste from water systems efficiently, whereas Team 1 created a hands-on activity for students to visualize the impact of earthquakes.

Instead of building a specific product for usage, both teams developed an item with the goals of educating students. For Team 1, the product it developed was a kit for students to simulate earthquakes and observe the effects.

“Students can predict the results and then assemble the model, which is made out of readily accessible materials like wooden dowels, string, and a weight for the damping with the entire kit totalling to no more than $20,” Mendoza, the group leader of Team 1, wrote.

In order to ensure that students were participating and understanding the material, the group decided to add discussion questions to help students relate the activity to their own lives.

On the other hand, Team 14 worked on educating students in the Philippines about environmental sustainability, stewardship, and problem solving.

However, despite the differences in delivery, both teams were impressed by the quality of projects from other groups.

“All of our fellow teams had amazing projects that everyone worked so hard on to complete and present,” Chopra, the group leader of Team 14, wrote. “I was very impressed by everyone’s creativity and all the innovative ideas that I hadn’t even thought about.”

Working as a team Throughout the hackathon, many participants had to work with students from different programs.

Some students had to work with strangers, which they described as intimidating and unexpected.

“Smaller teams were merged together so I had to work alongside 2 teammates who I had never talked to before,” Junaid, an environmental chemistry student, wrote. “At first, I thought it would be very difficult to communicate and be on the same page about things.”

However, acknowledging diversified skill sets and combining different interests allowed many students to work toward a common goal. Some teams

What exactly are stem cells? The buzzword explained Balancing two potentials: regenerative medicine and causing cancer

Stem cells are currently being studied as part of larger efforts to cure cancer.

NATANAEL MANSILLA/FLICKR

Isabel Lim Varsity Contributor

Stem cells have recently become a very important topic of study in the scientific community. From testing drugs to regenerating tissues, they are reported to be useful for a variety of medical and research procedures. But what exactly are stem cells, and is the hype justified? Yes — but there’s a catch.

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells with the ability to become any tissue cell and divide unceasingly.

Animals ranging from zebrafish to lizards use stem cells to regenerate entire limbs and even heal their spinal cords. We have these stem cells, too, and essentially all cells within the human body are derived from stem cells. In an embryo, embryonic stem cells differentiate into a myriad of tissue cells, forming the human body.

In the adult human body, different types of adult stem cells still exist across tissues — such as in fatty tissues or bone marrow — and often stay dormant

until activated for their tasks. Injuries, diseases, and regular maintenance of dying cells awaken these inert stem cells to differentiate into various tissue cells that then multiply.

Stem cells can be cultured and manipulated in a lab setting, making them useful for research or to be administered into patients as regenerative medicine.

These properties of stem cells make them the focal point of much scientific research, ranging from spinal cord diseases to cancer and even our immune system.

Stem cells and degenerative diseases In response to injuries, stem cells activate and differentiate into specified tissue cells and multiply, thereby repopulating the site of injury with healthy cells. A study published in August used mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that differentiate into skeletal tissues to treat degenerative disc disease (DDD).

DDD is an irreversible disease affecting the lumbar of individuals, causing lower back pain. This disease is the leading cause of age-related disabilities,

Pueblo Science is a charity co-founded by a current U of T professor and a U of T PhD graduate.

UNGKU ZOE ANYS/THEVARSITY

decided to divide the task individually and discuss their own research among one another.

“We were able to equally split the work between us and it was really helpful especially during the project ideation process to have the different perspectives and thought processes from each member,” Mendoza wrote.

Regardless of the difficulty in hosting meetings, participants enjoyed the process of discussing ideas with others and prototyping their final project.

“So, it was a great experience to hear other brilliant minds and observe the different ways in which everyone approached common problems to reach a viable solution,” Junaid wrote.

Experience with the hackathons Students sometimes perceive hackathons to be daunting events. Due to the demanding schedules, rigorous research process, and frequent brainstorming sessions, participants are pressured and overwhelmed to push their final products.

“I used to think Hackathons can be very daunting,” Junaid wrote. “But from my experience, as long as you delegate responsibilities amongst your group, and form a schedule throughout your hackathon period, you will stay on top of tasks.”

Even with the hassle of delegating responsibilities and no current cure exists. However, recent research using MSCs have proven to reduce symptoms of DDD, where its regenerative capabilities led to the increase in spinal collagen density, a decrease in inflammation, and restoration of regular disc height.

In a 12 month follow-up for this study, the participants reported a 44 per cent improvement in their pain, showing a promising future for those with DDD. Stem cells and immunology In addition to promoting cell growth and repair, stem cells secrete molecules that mediate immune response by suppressing T cell and B cell proliferation. Dr. Juan Carlos Zuniga-Pflucker, a U of T professor in the Department of Immunology, explains that haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) — which differentiate into red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets — can be used to generate infectionfighting T cells in the lab.

T cells are a part of our adaptive immune system that helps fight off antigens. Zuniga-Pflucker’s research unleashes revolutionary possibilities to treat immunodeficient or autoimmune individuals. In particular, cancer patients who suffer from immunodeficiencies can use ex vivo T cells, which are T cells formed outside the body, to replenish the immune cells lost following successful chemotherapy.

A conversation about our immune system is incomplete without a discussion of COVID-19. COVID-19 may cause severe acute respiratory infection, leading to pneumonia caused by destroyed lung cells, and may result in death. Additionally, patients can experience cytokine storms, which is an overstimulation of their immune system producing excess inflammatory molecules, leading to death.

Since stem cells have anti-inflammatory properties, research shows that administering MSCs into patients can prevent cytokine storms, restore damaged lung tissues, cure pneumonia, and ultimately heal the patient. Today, there are 17 completed clini-

and working on a different schedule, students who participated in the hackathon developed a sense of resiliency when working with other team members.

“Throughout our work we were faced by problems,” Chopra wrote. “Where we thought something would work in theory… some things wouldn’t work out as intended.”

Despite the problems, participants learned how to creatively brainstorm solutions and develop a more effective prototype than the previously proposed model. Many of them enjoyed the process and were surprised by how much they have learned in a short period of time.

“I… found that I learned a lot more about the way I work and how to communicate than I thought I would,” wrote Mendoza. “It was a really great experience overall.”

For those who are looking forward to joining a virtual hackathon in the near future, the previous winners have some good advice. Collaborating with others can be daunting at first, but as long as the participant keeps an open mind, the result doesn’t matter.

“Believe in yourself and your team and put forth your best effort,” Junaid wrote. “No matter what the outcome is, hackathons give you great exposure and push you to think creatively.” cal studies depicting MSCs as successful treatments for respiratory diseases, with many more clinical trials registered to study COVID-19.

Stem cells and cancer Stem cells are gaining prevalence in the field of cancer research as experiments demonstrate that MSCs expedite the healing process of breast cancer patients after successful chemotherapy. MSCs stop tumour cells from multiplying and induce cell death, resulting in an eradication of cancer.

However, stem cells and cancer stems are very similar in their ability to reproduce rapidly.

Researchers believe that errors in certain biological signals convert stem cells into ceaselessly dividing, tumour-forming cancer cells. These growing tumours secrete inflammatory molecules, simulating an injury, which then recruit MSCs to these sites to ‘aid’ in repair.

Due to the cancerous nature of these sites, the stem cells actually further divide into cancer cells, causing a vicious cycle of inflammation and exacerbating the progression of these tumours. Understanding the signalling pathways of cancer stem cells can lead to new treatments to hinder these signals and stop cancer.

Dr. Grace Egan, a pediatric oncologist and a U of T PhD candidate in stem cell biology, explains that stem cells are currently used as biomarkers for leukemia, a type of blood cancer. Researchers study the biological signatures of these cancer stem cells to indicate an aggressive tumour. Another research focus is to understand the different signatures of cancer stem cells to differentiate them from regular stem cells for targeted cancer treatment.

Stem cells can regenerate everything from body cells to cancer cells. They are the antiheroes of medicine: on one hand, they are the face of regenerative medicine, but on the other, they are the potential cause of cancer. Research into stem cells is currently a tug of war between these two potentials.

var.st/science

OCTOBER 5, 2020 Ashiana Sunderji Varsity Contributor

A recent U of T publication suggests that the paint on our walls might play a role in regulating our indoor environments.

Dr. Stephanie Jones is a postdoctoral researcher and the lead author of a study that claims that the noxious gas nitrous oxide (NO) in the environment can be reduced by the presence of indoor paints. The study found that NO is absorbed by the paint in the dark — but re-emitted with indoor lighting.

NO — an air pollutant known to harm human health — is an oxidant produced indoors by cooking, wood fires, candles, and cigarettes. It can lead to the production of ozone — a gas that, in certain situations, can negatively affect our health.

U of T paper finds that indoor paints can absorb noxious gas, nitrous oxide

How can paint absorb gases?

The white paint used in this experiment contained a variety of chemicals, including titanium dioxide.

Titanium dioxide and NO gas can react together to produce nitrogen dioxide and nitric acid. In the experiment results, levels of NO passing through the white paint cardboard sample decreased while levels of nitrogen dioxide increased.

In a written interview with The Varsity, Jones wrote that she and her lab believe that “the paint has a porous surface which allows some NO to be adsorbed.

Recent findings… have shown that Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) diffuse through painted surfaces and provide support for our hypothesis.” Ac-

When illuminated, paints re-emitted some of the absorbed gas

Indoor paints can absorb nitrous oxide gas and release it when illuminated by indoor lighting.

CAROLINE BELLAMY/THEVARSITY

YouTubing science: how U of T instructors teach on the platform amid online learning

MILIDAE UY/THEVARSITY

U of T instructors already used to the platform share their expertise Hannah Nie Varsity Contributor

As courses transition to online learning, many instructors are turning to YouTube as a platform for teaching. Accessible and robust, YouTube was a clear contender for instructors looking for a videohosting platform. Some have been uploading to YouTube even before the transition to online delivery, contributing to the platform’s large community of education and science channels.

The Varsity spoke with professors from various departments at U of T who have delved into YouTube as a platform for teaching, using various formats.

Flipped courses have advantages In a series of lectures recorded for the first-year course HPS100 — Introduction to History and Philosophy of Science, Dr. Hakob Barseghyan lectures on a well-lit stage with a red curtain behind him, reminiscent of a TED talk. The course has been held in this online and “fully flexible” format since 2015 through pre-recorded lecture videos and live online tutorials.

Life science courses have also been uploading lecture videos to YouTube. The instructors for courses

such as HMB300 — Neurobiology of Behaviour and CJH332 — Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology of the Synapse made use of YouTube’s live streaming features last year by streaming lectures.

Dr. William Ju, a professor in the human biology program, is an instructor for both of these courses and has also recently started a YouTube channel, uploading lecture recordings from courses such as PSL300 — Human Physiology I and vlogs showing behind-the-scenes footage of his experiences teaching dual-delivery courses.

Dr. Alfonso Gracia-Saz, a professor in the Department of Mathematics, has built up an extensive collection of videos on the MAT137 — Calculus with Proofs YouTube channel as part of the firstyear calculus course’s inverted classroom structure.

Students are expected to learn the basics from the videos so that they can spend lectures solving problems and putting their learning to practice.

Gracia-Saz began creating the inverted course over four years ago, following his observation that learning math requires both a “first contact” stage, in which students learn the basic concepts passively — the focus of a traditional lecture — as well as a “practice” stage, which involves actively solving problems.

In an email to The Varsity, Gracia-Saz explained the value of using lecture time to focus on practice — the more difficult part of learning — while allowing students to learn basic concepts through videos at their own pace. “[A] video that students can watch whenever convenient, that they can pause and rewind, will always beat a traditional lecture,” Gracia-Saz wrote.

The videos and their convenience can be useful for large first-year courses like MAT137. And now, certainly, the virtual lectures’ utility, particularly in the age of COVID-19 and online learning, is also evident.

“We got lucky: we are definitely in a better position than other courses thanks to the videos,” Gracia-Saz wrote. “We could continue with the same structure, and I just had to adapt the class practice problems. I did have to adapt them: what works well in a physical classroom may not work well online. But at the very least, even if everything else fails, we can rely on the video collection as an ‘anchor’ for the course.”

Choosing video format and lecture style Dr. Scott Ramsay, an associate professor in U of T’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering,

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cording to lung.org, VOCs are gases that can react to form air pollutants.

When paints re-emit NO The recorded decrease in NO levels in the air is correlated with an absence of light due to the absorbed NO diffusing into the paint. However, that same absorbed gas can also be released back into the environment.

Titanium dioxide is a photocatalyst, which sciencedirect.com defines as a material that absorbs light to induce a chemical reaction. “We believe that once NO is adsorbed into the paint it is converted into [nitrous acid (HNO2)] on the painted surface which is then photolysed by indoor lighting to release NO back into the air,” Jones wrote.

The process of photolyzation is when light energy decomposes a chemical compound. In this case, photolyzation occurs when HNO2 is decomposed back into NO with the addition of light, leading to the reemission of NO gas.

A 2013 paper noted that indoor oxidative capacities were not properly understood, and the identification of indoor chemical reactions is inferior to those occurring outdoors. This is why any research done to explain how chemicals affect the air quality indoors can be beneficial to our understanding of the health effects of living indoors.

Jones cautioned that the results are only a start.

“Further experiments are required to understand the implications for human health in indoor spaces,” she wrote.

also expressed that using YouTube for his courses in previous years has allowed for a smoother transition to online learning.

Ramsay started his YouTube channel eight years ago with a simple chalkboard and camera set-up to explain example problems and previous test questions that couldn’t be covered during lecture. Since then, he has experimented with various video formats and styles, incorporating tablets, new cameras, lighting, and audio set-ups.

In an interview with The Varsity, Ramsay described his process of creating YouTube videos as “iterative,” as he is always seeking to improve the videos and make them more engaging. After trying various strategies — reading from a teleprompter script, creating videos for an entire course using Khan Academy-esque blackboard and narration, and adding a video feed of himself alongside the tablet in a “talking head” style — Ramsay settled on his current set-up, with a tablet and three cameras at various angles.

Through these many iterations of video formats, Ramsay was able to find a delivery method that best matches his teaching style and strengths as an instructor. Ramsay’s current set-up allows him to switch between writing examples on the tablet and explaining concepts directly through the camera, where he is able to gesture, show demonstrations, and engage with students.

“I realized that I shouldn’t be trying to change my style to match the video format. There’s so many different video formats and ways you can do it,” Ramsay said. “I changed the format to match my style, and I think that really worked well.”

Ramsay also commented on the potential of using YouTube analytics to improve teaching. Instructors can look into parts of the video where viewers are rewinding and rewatching to gain insight about how their teaching could be improved. Statistics are also available for the locations and times that viewers are tuning into videos.

Through their exploration of different teaching methods on YouTube, Ramsay, Gracia-Saz, and other instructors have gained many insights to aid their transition to online learning. For the current school year, Ramsay already has much of the lecture material for his first-year courses up on YouTube, some unlisted and some open to the public. However, he hopes to continue improving on iterations of his content to make more engaging videos.

Sports

October 5, 2020 var.st/sports sports@thevarsity.ca

Opinion: the ‘fit’ body standard is all wrong — and dangerous The fitness industry must focus on body inclusivity

ISABELLA TAN/THEVARSITY

Jessica Han Varsity Contributor

Content warning: this article contains discussions of self-harm.

When I asked my friend one day if she was going to the gym later, she replied with a fervent yes, explaining that she needed to train more to get thinner and have abs.

Lately, I’ve been seeing more and more people start working out so that they can get a ‘fit’ body.

Take my friend as an example. I asked her why, and she told me that she wanted to look more

model-like.

Keep in mind that she goes to the gym for a one-hour session five times a week. Now, she’s upping it to two hours per session and is eating less food to achieve her ideal body. It’s dangerous and unhealthy to work out for the sake of achieving a certain body type — especially if such a body is used to market products in the fitness industry and is generally unattainable for most.

Dangers of an unattainable body image in the fitness industry Fitness is an essential factor in staying healthy;

yet, oftentimes, instead of using fitness as a way to be healthy, fitness is used to look more attractive.

People can struggle with the idealized body types hurled at them in fitness and beauty media.

Indeed, disordered eating habits often go handin-hand with the fitness industry: according to Psychology Today, a recent study that examined the prevalence of disordered eating of fitness instructors in Norway found that 22 per cent of the men instructors and 59 per cent of the women instructors self-reported disordered eating.

It is clear that although the prevailing narrative is that women face the brunt of body dys-

morphia from the media, the health and wellness propaganda of a perfect body makes no exceptions of gender.

And with influencers all over social media promising the health benefits of skinny teas and waist trainers, it’s easy to see that the sheer amount of misinformation and pseudoscience online can make it hard to know what will actually help you achieve your fitness goals and what’s a cash grab.

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a common and severe mental health issue where someone is unhealthily obsessed with their physical appearance, and points out their smallest flaws and defects that may not even be there to begin with. The disorder may even cause people to become suicidal or want to hurt themselves.

A more fitness-specific disorder that mainly occurs in men is muscle dysmorphia, which occurs when young boys and men believe that they are too skinny and not muscular or lean enough.

As a subcategory of BDD, this type of obsessive compulsive disorder can negatively affect someone’s daily life.

Does a realistic body standard even exist?

In recent years, acceptance of different body sizes and types is gaining popularity. There has been an increase in the body-positive movement in which we are celebrating all bodies, regardless of background, gender, sexuality, or disability.

Fitness brands and companies like Nike are becoming more size-inclusive and promoting body positivity, earning praises from customers and body-positive supporters. It seems as though things are looking up.

Having a healthy body image increases selfesteem and self-worth. We all need to accept our own bodies in order to live a full and happy life.

In other words, everyone should feel comfortable in their own body.

Opinion: how the fitness industry is finessing you

Angad Deol Associate Sports Editor

Instagram influencers are on the front line of misinformation

As an unprecedented online school year begins, many students at the University of Toronto and other schools alike may find themselves feeling the need to escape the endless cycle of schoolwork.

Many find that release in fitness, but with gyms being scary places as COVID-19 case numbers rise globally, home fitness has become a necessity rather than a privilege for some.

Herein lies a flaw in fitness that influencers and companies pick apart: since many people don’t have expensive exercise equipment at home — or lack the motivation to start working out in general — they start looking for ‘quick fixes’ to their workout needs. These ‘solutions’ range from snake oil “detox teas” to waist trainers and much more.

What is a detox tea, you ask? In short, they are teas that promise “boosted metabolism” and the ability to melt away stomach fat by “detoxing” your body of nasty elements. While this sounds like a groundbreaking medical discovery, these teas are about as scientific as some of the stuff your aunt shares on Facebook — not at all.

In March of this year, detox tea brand Teami was forced to return $1 million to consumers by the Federal Trade Commission after the brand was found to be selling products that promised weight loss and disease treatment “without reliable scientific evidence.”

However, this came after Teami made over $15 million from its product line. Teami products were promoted by a variety of influencers, the most popular being rapper Cardi B, who, as of September, has 76 million followers on Instagram.

While it can be easy to ignore these products if you live under a rock, they are a common sight on social media platforms, especially Instagram, where influencers are paid generously — upward of thou-

sands of dollars — to promote teas as a method of shedding those last few pounds.

While it’s easy to get lost down the rabbit hole of products that promise the sun, moon, and stars to their customers, the major problem lies in the celebrities who use their platforms to push these unrealistic diet products. Flat Tummy Co is another example of these companies, perhaps most famous for its collaborations with the KardashianJenner family, who make upward of six figures for an ad.

With Kim Kardashian West having 189 million followers and the other family members having equally exorbitant follower counts, it’s clear that they have a massive audience that will listen to their advertisements and purchase some of Flat Tummy Co’s products. For example, the Appetite Suppressant Lollipop was the subject of a 2018 study that debunked it as having no effects on weight loss.

Not only will followers waste their money, but they will also fall victim to unrealistic body standards.

The misinformation pushed by these companies only stands to make them and their influencer army profit while the customer is left disappointed and, often, wanting more. There’s clearly a moral dilemma in profiting off of the desperate while pushing blatantly unscientific products.

In sum, as students shift to online classes, it’s a reality that they’ll get distracted and check out their social media feeds. When you check out the latest post from your favourite influencers, it’s important to think critically — if it seems too good to be true, it just might be.

The best way to keep up with your physical fitness in the middle of a pandemic is to find new ways to work out from home when you can make time for yourself. When you have to force yourself or sacrifice time from other activities, it’s very easy to fall victim to believing that a magic cup of tea will help you lose weight.

EMILY MARSHALL/THEVARSITY

var.st/sports

OCTOBER 5, 2020

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The best kicks for your workout A breakdown of what sneakers to wear and when Javahir Saidov Varsity Contributor

Staying physically active is a very good way to relieve stress from schoolwork. Wondering how to break a pair of sneakers in without breaking the bank? Not sure which pair is right for which activity?

It is important to know the differences between different types of shoes. For each activity, you require different things from shoes. For running, you want a shoe with good cushioning. You need support and a higher heel-to-toe drop in running shoes compared to weightlifting or crossfit shoes, for example.

Here, you’ll find all the information you need on how to choose the right shoe for your activities.

Below are the top picks for the following categories: long distance runs, sprints, crossfit, and lifting.

NOOR NAQAWEH/THEVARSITY

Long distance runs For long distance running, we recommend the Nike Revolution 5, which are currently discounted

for $74.99. They are very comfortable to run in — which is very important in long distance runs — have great traction, and the outsole allows great flexibility when running. These shoes are also suitable for road running.

Sprints If you prefer shorter sprints, we have you covered as well. For short running, we recommend Asics Gel Contend 5 for men, which are on sale for $60.

For women, the best short distance running shoes are the Adidas Duramo 9, which are discounted at $67. These shoes are great for light workouts and sprinting. The outsoles provide great traction and plenty of support, although the Asics provide more support due to hard heels.

Crossfit Shoes for crossfit are very different compared to running shoes — they need to be suitable for a wide range of activities, from running to lifting.

They usually cost a bit more as well. Our top pick for crossfit and workout shoes are the Reebok

Nano 9 Training Shoes.

There are models for men and women. They offer plenty of support and protection on top of being very comfortable. Reebok offers many cool designs and colours with varying prices. On the official website, you can find them for somewhere between $85 and $145.

Lifting Usually weightlifting shoes are pricier, and not everyone wants to shell out big bucks for them right from the beginning. Our top pick for this section might surprise you the most. We recommend the Converse Chuck Taylor All Star High Top Sneakers, which have a starting price of $70.

The rubber sole without arch support makes it perfect for squats or deadlifts, which demand a solid, flat foundation. These shoes are very light and decrease the chance of tripping. They come in unisex, men’s, and women’s lines.

“I just want to lead by example”: in conversation with rower Alison Okumura The women’s team captain recalls beginnings, hopes for the future

Avishai Sol Varsity Contributor

When you think of the Varsity Blues, rowing may not be the first sport that comes to mind, but for women’s rowing team captain Alison Okumura, rowing is as vital as it gets. With three Ontario University Athletics bronze medal wins last year and high hopes going forward, Okumura is excited to return to the water with her team once protocol permits. Training has been hard with everyone separated, but Okumura herself has found ways to keep in peak form.

“We’re unable to practice together as a team yet,” she said. “We’re all going on our own and at our own separate clubs, but hopefully we’ll be back soon.”

That’s the idea.

If there can be one consolation to Okumura and her teammates it’s that rowing is one of the safer sports during the pandemic. Being in a bubble with your teammates is one thing, but in sports like basketball, hockey, or football, the worry becomes more about travel and interschool contact than sharing a space with 10 of your teammates. Out on the open water,

however, you don’t have to worry about catching anything from your competition.

On a similar note, I was curious about how a rower breaks into the sport. It’s not the most accessible, requiring equipment, a team, and — well — water, so I was interested in how Okumura got her start.

“I started in grade 10, but I was playing more hockey at the time,” she said.

It was a trip to a local sport competition show, RBC Training Ground, that led her in the direction of rowing. It’s sort of like America’s Got Talent but for potential Olympic athletes.

Okumura didn’t know what to expect at first, but after completing the program’s tests, she was approached and strongly encouraged to pursue rowing due to her strength and endurance.

According to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, rowers tend to have more muscle mass and especially strong backs and legs. You might think that more muscle could slow the boat down, but the speed gained from the added power is more significant than the drag.

For Okumura, the shift from being a multisport athlete to a more specialized one couldn’t

have been easy, but the fast success that came with it showed her that this is what she was meant to do. Okumura takes her leadership role as team captain very seriously but never lets the added responsibility go to her head.

“I just want to lead by example,” she said. “I think the team can be really strong this year, and hopefully, we can get back and pick up some more hardware.”

With Okumura and her teammates having one of the clearer paths, even in a COVID-19centric future, she’ll certainly get her chance.

Expect big things from her, U of T — you won’t be disappointed.

Testing UTrain: Plyo-HIIT

How good are U of T’s online workouts, really?

Alexandra Waddell Varsity Contributor

For this week’s Testing UTrain, I decided to try out the “Plyo-HIIT” on Wednesdays at noon. There were no descriptions on the UTrain website, and I had never tried a plyometric workout before, so I was intrigued.

Do the workouts really work?

MAHIKA JAIN/THE VARSITY

Warm up Plyometrics are fast and explosive exercises like jumping and skipping. Through these quick movements, your muscles undergo a cycle of rapid contractions that offer unique benefits. Supposedly, plyometric workouts improve agility, speed, and acceleration, so when they are combined with high-intensity interval training (HIIT) — which focuses on quick bursts of cardio-based exercises — you get a short but effective workout.

This all sounded good — maybe a little intimidating — but I was excited!

The workout One of the benefits of UTrain is that the workouts are hosted online by UTM, Hart House, and U of T Sport & Recreation, so it lets students try classes they may not have had the chance to otherwise.

Plyo-HITT was hosted by UTM — our instructor for the session was a UTM student — so as a UTSG student, the program was new to me!

While the instructor waited for more students to join, they led us through the warm up, but I was surprised to see that only seven people attended the Zoom compared to the double-digits that the cardio dance party was bringing in. I suspect that was due to the more intimidating class title.

The instructor explained the structure of the class would be HIIT-style rounds with a full-body circuit, followed by a core circuit that would increase in difficulty each round. Each exercise in the circuit would be performed for 20 seconds, followed by a 20-second rest. I was nervous about the difficulty of the class, so I was relieved to find out we had equal active

Okumura practicing in the boat.

SEYRAN MAMMADOV/VARSITY BLUES

and rest times.

The simple full-body circuit included squats, reverse lunges, pushups, and modified burpees. As the rounds got more difficult, these evolved into jump squats, runners jumps, plyometric pushups, and burpees.

I appreciated that we eased into the more difficult moves and enjoyed the cardio burst, but the plyometric pushups were impossible for me! Impressively, the instructor was able to complete the 20 seconds and continue on to the pushups. I did one modified plyometric pushup — a pushup where you jump from your hands into a pushup — and then laid on the floor.

The core circuit was a bit easier with planks, v-sits, and leg lifts that increased in time with each round.

Cool down The whole workout, including the 10 minutes of stretching, was about 45 minutes long.

I wasn’t as exhausted as I expected, but I did feel like I got in a quick workout and definitely felt some muscle soreness the next day. As a newcomer to plyometric workouts, the one thing I would have asked for would be a little bit more explanation concerning what we were doing and the proper techniques for each move.

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OCTOBER 5, 2020

magazine pitch meeting Come share ideas for The Varsity’s fall magazine: Deconstruct

October 8 7:00 PM Join our Zoom at var.st/5xp